‘That same someone also helpfully told the police that I was gay. It was illegal back then, of course. And being seen with what they called a “vulnerable young boy”’ – Kit makes speech marks with his fingers – ‘raised suspicions, apparently. The police put two and two together and came up with five.’

Something clicks in Molly’s head. ‘Hold on a minute. You were . . . you are . . .?’ She cannot quite bring herself to say the word.

‘Gay? Yes, that’s me,’ Kit says cheerfully.

‘Wait. You’ll have to explain. When did you find out?’

‘Oh, I’ve known forever. I meant to tell you, that day when I said I had to go away, remember? But I chickened out. Thought you’d never understand.’

‘How could I forget?’ she murmurs. ‘They were sending you to a crammer.’

‘That, too. But the main reason was that I’d been expelled by my school after being found in bed with a boy. My parents hit the roof, of course. Thought there was something wrong with me – something a doctor could cure. They packed me off to see a psychiatrist in London, who said it was probably a passing phase and I’d grow out of it. What a joke!’

As their food arrives, the conversation pauses, allowing Molly a moment to process this information. If Kit was gay – always gay, even then – no wonder he seemed so reluctant to kiss her. He preferred boys. The revelation is so astonishing that she finds herself chuckling.

‘Mum?’ Bella nudges her.

‘What?’

‘What’re you laughing at?’

‘At my girlish self,’ she says. ‘For wasting all that time longing for Kit to fall in love with me. Little did I suspect that I was onto a loser from the very start.’

Everyone laughs then, along with her.

‘But I was in love with you,’ Kit protests. ‘Just not in a romantic way. I thought you were the most exciting girl I’d ever met. Your energy, your appreciation of nature, the way you cared for your brother, your passion for getting justice for Eli. You were wonderful.’

‘Well, thank you. But poor Eli. We failed him, didn’t we?’ she says, suddenly saddened.

‘You did everything you possibly could,’ he says.

Bella chimes in. ‘Did you say the police suspected you because you were gay, Kit?’ she asks.

‘They must have thought I was some kind of child abuser.’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ Molly says. ‘I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous. You were just about the only other person in the village who was nice to my brother. You and Eli. If they’d only asked me, I’d have told them.’

‘But that was after your father threatened to jump off the church tower, remember? And got carried away in a straitjacket? The search for your brother carried on, but I suppose they didn’t want to bother you too much after that. You must have been in pieces.’