The following day, I’m in the garden pruning back last year’s growth on the roses that ramble along the wall, enjoying a fragile sense of peace that’s long been absent from my life, when DS May and Sergeant Collins arrive. As DS May walks across the garden towards me, I pull off my gardening gloves.

‘I’m sorry for turning up like this.’ DS May looks apologetic. ‘Do you have a moment? I wanted to talk to you about Stephanie Hampton.’

‘Will it take long?’ I glance at my watch. ‘It’s just that I have an appointment in an hour’s time.’

‘We just need to run through a couple of things.’ When DS May doesn’t offer to come back another time, my heart sinks.

I nod. ‘You’d better come in.’

At the back door, I pull off my boots and leave them outside. The kitchen isn’t as tidy as it usually is, with unironed clothes piled on the table and this morning’s breakfast dishes yet to be cleared. ‘I’m a bit behind. But sit down.’ I move the pile of washing onto the sofa, stacking the remaining plates and carrying them over to the sink before joining the two policewomen at the kitchen table.

DS May’s notebook is already switched on. ‘You saw Mrs Hampton very recently didn’t you? In fact, you were one of the last people to see her alive. I wanted to ask how she seemed to you.’

‘Stephanie?’ Given the events that have happened, it seems weeks rather than days since I saw her. ‘She was grieving for Hollie. And she was worried about James.’

‘Did she say anything to suggest she was thinking of killing herself?’

‘No.’ I look at her sharply. ‘She told me that after she’d spoken to you, she was going away. Somewhere far away from here – I think that’s what she said.’

DS May frowns at me. ‘She didn’t imply anything more sinister?’

‘No.’ The suggestion that Stephanie would take her own life shocks me. ‘You don’t think …’ I tail off.

‘We found a letter in her salon. It’s almost certain she planned to take her own life. Whether the crash was an accident, we don’t know.’

Shocked, I try to take in what DS May is saying. ‘I suppose it’s easy to interpret her words completely differently now. I was on a flight to Rome the day she died. I was actually thinking of her just before I checked my phone and picked up a message from Andrew, telling me she’d died.’

‘Your husband was her doctor.’

I nod. ‘Yes. To be honest, he’s doctor to half the village. His practice is the only one between here and Chichester.’ Then I look at her more closely, suddenly aware there’s something she isn’t saying. ‘Why do you ask?’