‘I don’t need to know about that time,’ he tells her, stroking her cheek. ‘It’s only now that matters.’

She needs some air. ‘Can we go in the garden? Even with the door open it’s stifling in here.’

He follows her out and they sit under the pergola. The climbing rose above their heads is beautiful, but it scatters leaves and petals all over the bench, and they fall as fast as she can clear them away. It was Sienna’s suggestion to plant it, and it’s the only idea of hers that Abby has kept.

She turns to face Mark. The short walk to the back of the garden has allowed her a moment to sort through how she’s going to tell him, yet still she doesn’t feel ready. She begins with the husband swap, and what Greg admitted he did. She explains all about Sienna and how their friendship crumbled, turning sour under the weight of a burden she couldn’t share. It cleanses her to speak of it all, and now it’s out there she feels lighter somehow.

All of this, though, is the easier part; it’s what comes next that she struggles to say.

‘He’s dead, Mark. Somebody killed him, and the police still don’t know who did it.’ Abby searches his face, looking for any sign of mistrust, or horror, that his mind is playing over the question she herself would be wondering if this was the other way around. ‘I don’t know what happened to him, but it seems like I could have been the last person to see him before he went missing.’

Mark exhales and grips her hand, squeezing it tightly. ‘Thank you for telling me. It can’t be easy to talk about this.’

‘Does it change anything? That I’m… tied up in it all?’

He frowns, then shakes his head. ‘No. You didn’t kill him. I know you aren’t capable of hurting anyone.’

‘The thing is, I’m sure Sienna thinks I had something to do with it.’

‘Then you need to put her straight. Fight for your reputation. You’re a schoolteacher, Abby – it’s important.’

This is something she hasn’t considered. If Sienna goes to the police and they start rooting around in her life, it won’t look good. And then where will her career be? She shakes her head. Is this how Greg felt? That he had to do whatever he could to save himself? It terrifies her that she’s even having these thoughts.

‘You’re right, I do need to talk to her. Everything’s out in the open now, so I can be honest about you and what Greg was really buying my silence with. I’ll try and see her tomorrow.’

‘Do you want me to come with you?’