‘The summer a young girl went missing. I don’t recall her name.’

‘Alice,’ said Will. ‘Her name was Alice Lang.’

Had Guy really forgotten?

‘Intriguing,’ Emily said. ‘What happened?’

‘She drowned,’ Guy had answered. ‘She walked into the sea.’

‘She killed herself?’

‘I’m afraid so. Nothing like that had ever happened at the holiday park before. My mother never got over it.’

Anger was making Will’s ears sing; everything was becoming hazy. He leaned a little closer to Guy, so close he could see the pores on his nose.

‘Alice’s body was never recovered,’ Will said. ‘Nobody saw her go into the estuary. We don’t know for sure that she drowned.’

‘That was what the police said.’

‘But they didn’t know.’

‘Why would she kill herself?’ Emily asked.

‘Do you have any theories, Guy?’ Will asked. ‘You were always watching Alice. You must have had some idea.’

‘I hardly knew her. I mean, she was an attractive young woman but…’ Guy ran out of steam. ‘It was a tragedy,’ he said to Emily. ‘Will’s right, nobody saw her going into the water but that’s what happened. They found her dress at the side of the estuary.’

‘Your mother found her dress,’ said Will.

‘Ah, yes,’ said Guy, ‘you’re right, she did.’

Emily was drawing to the end of her cigarette. She put it between her lips and fished in her handbag for the packet. ‘Awful,’ she mumbled.

‘Terrible,’ Guy agreed.

Will couldn’t let it go.

‘You must have been one of the last people to see her, Guy,’ he said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You were with her that evening, weren’t you? You were in Caravan 49 the evening she disappeared? You were on a date with her. A “special” date. She’d bought a bottle of champagne.’

‘Listen, old chap, I don’t know what you’re getting at, but I never went on a date with Alice, not in the way you mean.’

‘Are you sure? Was her disappearance really nothing to do with you, Guy?’

‘Will! For God’s sake!’ Emily had tossed her cigarette over the balcony, laughed in a brittle way and put her hand on Will’s arm. ‘Stop it!’ she’d hissed.

Will couldn’t remember what happened after that. He’d been blinded by rage. Emily must have calmed him down; perhaps they left the party. There couldn’t have been a scene because there had been no repercussions. All he remembered for sure was the conviction he’d had that Guy was keeping his face low, not looking directly at Will because he was hiding something, because he didn’t want to inadvertently reveal the truth.