She shrugs. ‘They wouldn’t have been the same without Izzy.’

We are greeted at the door by a friendly woman in her late sixties. Her grey hair is tied back, a baggy sweater swamps her plump figure, and she has green rubber gardening clogs on her feet. She frowns, evidently puzzled, then Anna introduces herself.

She smiles warmly. ‘Goodness, you’ve changed. I thought you were a couple of lost ramblers.’

‘Mrs Burrows, this is Grace Trelawney,’ Anna says, indicating me. ‘Do you remember Nick Ritchie? Grace is his girlfriend.’

‘Of course I remember Nick. Are you on your holidays? You should have brought him with you.’

The housekeeper looks from me to Anna, tweaking at the cuffs of her jumper, waiting for an explanation. She is more curious than impatient. She doesn’t have the faintest idea why we’ve turned up unannounced so obviously the police haven’t paid their visit yet.

Anna and I have already discussed what we would say to her. There’s no point lying, since she’ll find out sooner or later. We tell her the simple facts. Nick is missing, and we think it might have something to do with that awful week. She takes us into the house, through the wide hallway with its grand mahogany staircase, and into the warmth of the kitchen. I can’t help staring round me, trying to imagine a younger Nick in this place, stuck here, with no one except a thirteen-year-old girl to talk to. No wonder he gravitated towards Angus. He must have been miserable. It makes me furious with Anna, but I push it down. I’m sure Nick forgave her a long time ago. He’s not the type to bear grudges.

‘I wasn’t there that afternoon,’ Mrs Burrows says, setting the kettle on the range to boil. ‘But even before the tragedy, that holiday wasn’t a success.’ She glances at Anna. ‘You probably didn’t notice – you had the twins to distract you – but those new ones … what were their names?’

‘Tim and Cora Ritchie,’ I supply.

‘Yes, them,’ she says. ‘I had nothing against Nick.’ She looks at me. ‘He was quiet and polite, but he didn’t fit in any more than his parents did. That mother.’ She rolls her eyes. ‘She was a piece of work. Treating me like I was there for her pleasure. That’s why I made myself scarce as much as possible.’

That sounds like Cora. ‘So there’s nothing you can tell me about Nick specifically?’

‘I wish I could help. He was unhappy, but I put it down to his age. My son was the same. There were some days when he barely spoke a word to anyone.’

I’m not sure whether she’s referring to her son or Nick.