When she’d finished Amelia looked at her in silence, a puzzled frown trying vainly to furrow her botoxed forehead. ‘You think this guy, this Oliver Vine, arrived on your doorstep with the intention of blackmailing you? Isn’t that a bit of a stretch? After all, as you say, nothing really happened apart from you being a tit.’

Molly smiled. ‘A tit? Thanks. It beats what I’ve been calling myself and you, at least, believe me. I’m afraid both the police and Jack think something more must have happened for him to turn up like that.’ She played with the handle of the mug. ‘I’ve no idea how he found out where I lived.’

‘Maybe he found out at the hotel. It’s the only one around, he may have guessed you were staying there.’

‘It’s what I thought too, but I rang them, they said it was absolutely against their policy to reveal information about guests to anyone.’ She shrugged. ‘Have to admit, I couldn’t imagine him walking in and asking staff who the woman running on the canal is, could you?’ Picking up the mug, she drained it, shaking her head when Amelia lifted the pot to offer more.

Molly stood restlessly, then sat again, pushing her hair behind her ears. ‘I had thought it was so romantic,’ she said, her voice calmer. ‘That this divinely sexy man found me attractive. From the first morning, I couldn’t get him out of my head. Remember I told you about him, and you said he was wasted on me, that I should have dragged him into the field. And later, you said I should try something new. I had been feeling old, you know, worn out and past it. Then suddenly there he was again, and I had a chance to prove I wasn’t, to feel that magic and excitement, to roll around in the grass in total abandon and feel like a teenager again.’

Amelia grinned, then she giggled. Molly looked at her blankly for a moment. Nothing about this story was the slightest bit funny. She remembered the young man’s shocked expression when she’d leaned in for a kiss. Okay, maybe it was a little funny. She chuckled and soon they were both laughing like a pair of hyenas.

‘Oh God,’ Molly said, wiping her eyes, ‘I suppose it does sound so ridiculous now.’ Her worried expression returning, she stood and paced the room again. ‘Not so ridiculous though when you think the poor guy was murdered. And, I’d still like to know how a stranger managed to get my address.’

‘It’s odd all right.’

Molly’s eyes narrowed. ‘I wondered if he could have followed me?’

‘You’d have noticed, wouldn’t you?’