Sadie gets more and more drunk as the evening wears on, taking full advantage of the free wine. I, however, am trying to be on my best behaviour, conscious as I am that Caro’s parents are here. And I’m glad I did keep my wits, as I bump into Mrs Osbourne in the Ladies. I’m not sure she knows who I am, and I avoid eye contact, concentrating instead on washing my hands and scarpering back to our table. I slink into my seat, telling Sadie that I saw Caro’s mother.

‘Did she say anything?’ Sadie’s eyes are wide as I tell her. ‘The last time I saw her was at Caro’s memorial. She didn’t speak to us then, and I thought it was because she was upset but, in all truth, she never really liked me.’

‘Really?’ An auction has begun, and I sneak a glance at Rupert, who is already bidding on things with Miles. ‘Why not?’

Sadie shrugs, a sloppy gesture now she is three sheets to the wind. ‘Who knows? She’s a funny old woman. Wouldn’t leave Rupert alone until he held the memorial.’

‘Why?’ I lean in close, so no one can overhear our conversation. ‘Why did she want to have a memorial? Surely the funeral would have been enough?’

Sadie blinks. ‘There was no funeral.’

‘No funeral?’ I frown, the alcohol in my veins making everything feel a little muddy and blurred. ‘What do you mean there was no funeral? Everybody has a funeral.’

‘Not if there’s no body.’

Not if there’s no body. Sadie’s words are at the forefront of my mind as I swim up into consciousness after a ragged few hours’ sleep. My mouth is dry, and my tongue feels too big. A persistent banging thuds at my temples and my eyes ache, although from tiredness or alcohol I’m not sure. I didn’t imagine it – Sadie definitely said there was no funeral for Caro. I close my eyes again, thinking on how I had pressed her on it as she stumbled over the words, slurring and mumbling.

‘They never found her,’ Sadie says, a tiny hiccup escaping her mouth as she speaks. ‘They found her car, and her purse was in it and she’d left a note saying she was sorry.’

‘Oh my God, that’s awful.’ I press my hand to my mouth, imagining Caro’s body being dragged out to sea, crashing against rocks, being nibbled by tiny fish. ‘Poor Rupert.’

‘Poor all of us,’ Sadie says, ‘it took us a long time to accept that she was gone. I mean, there was never any doubt that she meant to do it, not with the note and her state of mind at the time. The police said she never would have survived the fall, and that with the current she might never… wash up.’