The silence in the kitchen deepens, even the comforting noises seem to stop. Everyone is holding their breath. Sorrel looks up at Eve as if checking she is still there; Eve kisses her; her face is blank as though wiped clean by horror.

“I’ve already been told a little bit about what happened to your brother,” the policewoman murmurs gently. “It would be so helpful if you could tell me more, just so I can get it straight in my mind. So you were there in your brother’s room . . .”

“Yes, I was.” Sorrel nods several times; her eyes are very wide. “I went to see him because he wouldn’t stop crying, but Izzy was already there. She had her hand tight over his face then she took her hand off, then she put it back like she was playing a game.”

Eve closes her eyes. Melissa wants to get up and run away, anywhere but here. She doesn’t want to hear these words that will be in her mind forever; she will never be rid of the pictures that go with them.

“She picked him up.” Sorrel is twisting the horse around and around in her hands. “His head was hanging in a funny way, a bit like a doll.” She looks at Eve again; her voice gets higher. “She looked up and saw me.” Eve’s lips tighten but her hand strokes Sorrel’s hair gently.

“And then?” the policewoman prompts quietly after a while. “What happened then, Sorrel?”

“She didn’t say anything; she just took him away. I ran back to bed and pulled the cover up. When she came back, she pulled my cover down and said she would kill me if I told.” Sorrel’s voice drops to a whisper. “I wet the bed.”

Eve lowers her face to Sorrel’s. “You don’t need to tell us anything else, my darling.”

“I tried to tell you about him not being able to breathe, I really tried, but you didn’t let me say.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Eve sounds desperate and sorry at the same time. “I thought you meant when he was drowning. It was making you upset, so I stopped you. I’m sorry.”

She tried to tell me too, Melissa remembers, but I’d thought the same as Eve; I hadn’t allowed Sorrel to finish either.

It’s agonizingly simple to work out what must have happened next from Izzy’s point of view: when her first plan for Sorrel didn’t work, the memory loss must have been a gift. No wonder she wanted to stay close to the family. She must have been watching Sorrel all this time; watching and listening for the first hint of her memory returning, as it did today. She would have framed the fall as a terrible accident and they would have all believed her. Melissa grips the arms of the chair tightly; her hands are sweating.

Grace pushes herself away from the wall. She touches Eve lightly on the shoulder, goes to the fridge, and, taking out a jug of lemonade, she collects three glasses and leaves the room.