‘It’s hard to remember now. Mrs Diamond moved in, and she probably tried to keep everyone away. But I’m so sorry about you coming under suspicion, Kit. Was it horrible?’

‘Horrible enough,’ he says. ‘I never really believed they could pin anything on me, but it wasn’t nice being interrogated. They held me in a cell, overnight.’

‘You’d only just turned seventeen.’

‘A very immature, troubled seventeen at that. The worst thing was they wouldn’t reveal who’d told them about seeing me with Jimmy.’

‘Did you ever discover?’

He shakes his head. ‘I always assumed it was Blackman. He was always sneaking around Eli’s hut, and would have been able to see the lake from there. He could easily have seen me rowing Robin with Jimmy, that day we played pirates.’

‘And I was back on shore, waiting to come and find you.’ Molly remembers so well; it is etched into her mind. It was only the day before they discovered the hut deserted and the horrible, official notice. The day Eli disappeared. She shivers, recalling her growing understanding that it was Blackman behind so many of the terrible things happening in the village.

Kit sighs again. ‘Oh, Molly. I was such an idiot. My head was in a complete mess, I didn’t know which way was up and which was down. I had no idea how Blackman could have known why I’d been expelled, but then my mother admitted that she’d confided in Melissa. They were best buddies, remember?’

‘And it was the Blackmans who told the police you were gay?’

‘We never found out for certain. It doesn’t matter now.’

‘It’s all so long in the past,’ Molly agrees. ‘None of it really matters any more. But what happened to you after that?’

‘I got sent off to a crammer in London, but it didn’t work. When I failed all my exams, my father sent me out to Australia to turn me into a “real man”.’ Kit scoffs. ‘Would you credit it? He actually used those words. Mum had a cattle-farming cousin out there, and they reckoned I couldn’t get into any more trouble in the middle of the outback. How wrong they were. The place was full of gorgeous men.’ His eyes twinkle and both of them chuckle. It feels almost like old times. ‘Anyway, that’s where I learned about the wine trade and got the crazy idea that it might work in the UK.’

‘Bella told me about your vineyard. You look as though you’ve prospered.’

‘It’s been a good life. And I had this wonderful nephew, Christopher. What about you?’

‘I’ve had a good life, too. My husband was hopeless and disappeared early on, but I have a lovely daughter and grandson.’

‘Chris says you’re a famous writer.’

‘Only children’s books,’ Molly says, blushing.