‘Beautiful, truly, but mean. So strange – she hated everyone. You’d warm to her right away but you’d never, never truly know where you stood with her. As far as I know – I’m sorry, but though she spun all these tales of moving on and new lives, deep down I don’t think she knew how to live anywhere but here, how to go anywhere her mother wasn’t, and the thought of that tore her up – she had a death wish and I’m pretty sure she got what she wanted.’

Ellis shifts beside me. I feel an urge to protect him in maybe a maternal way but I can’t. But he signed up for the knowing – he’ll get the knowing.

We’re quiet for a moment. ‘What do you think happened to Roxy?’ I try, hoping to simplify things.

Lenore leans back in her chair slowly, as if to prove a point, with a wry smile on her face. ‘Your guess is as good as mine.’

‘But it isn’t,’ I say. ‘You lived this. You knew her.’

‘I didn’t,’ she says. ‘Nobody did.’

‘If you had to guess?’

Lenore chews her cheek. ‘I can’t answer you, sweetheart.’

‘All right. This has been really helpful. Thank you. Just – one more question. Do you know anything about someone called Baby Blue?’

‘Baby Blue?’ she asks, incredulous. ‘Did she know somebody called that? No, no. Maybe one of her weekend boys. That’s a bit sentimental for her, though, to call someone that.’

‘Are you friends with Mary Anne?’

‘We don’t speak much, no.’

‘Good. Please don’t tell her we came.’

‘You don’t think Mary Anne might have …’

‘We don’t know. But she told us not to look into any more of this. Really angry about it. We’re not sure why, but, yeah. It doesn’t read as an innocent thing to do, does it?’

‘I wouldn’t read too much into it,’ she says. ‘Mary’s always been especially secretive. Never took kindly to outsiders.’

‘Yeah. Well, we’ll keep that in mind.’

‘Listen,’ Lenore says. ‘You’ll both learn this as you go, but there are things in this life that we never find the answers to. Our guts speak volumes, though, and, fine, if you want to know what my gut has told me about this whole event? Because, believe me, I’ve flipped it over. My gut says that Roxy took her own life that night.’

We’re quiet. The words settle.

‘But everyone has something to hide. And you both ought to be careful, if you’re really doing this. You might find you’re uncovering things in the process that don’t concern you or Roxy, that people don’t want you to discover.’

‘Sure.’

‘Be careful.’

Ellis and I head out, back into the day.

‘OK. So. That was interesting,’ I finally say. ‘Anything in particular stick out to you?’