Allison tried to get her feet back on solid ground. ‘Did he go back to college, then? And qualify?’

The solicitor looked puzzled. ‘No, he didn’t. I’m sorry, you seem to be under some misapprehension. Peter refused to return to college. I think his parents were quite relieved, actually, preferring to lay the blame for his addiction at the feet of an institute of learning rather than holding their over-indulged son to account. As a result, Peter never qualified as anything.’

‘He’s not a solicitor.’ A statement, not a question. Of course he wasn’t. She remembered the business card he’d handed her, how she’d been foolishly impressed. Or had she seen what she’d wanted to see? A handsome, successful man, obviously interested in her, ripe for the plucking. Except she’d been the one plucked.

Brown raised an eyebrow. ‘A solicitor? Is that what he told you?’

Her silence told him enough.

‘I’m sorry. No, he’s not a solicitor. He did work in a law office, though.’

As if that should be a solace for her. As if Peter’s lie could simply be seen as a different shade of truth.

‘Some kind of administrative position, I believe,’ Brown added.

‘Right.’ It was all she could manage as she tried to make sense of this unbelievable truth.

He looked as if he was uncertain whether to continue or not. ‘Perhaps we should leave it at that.’

‘No. I need to hear it all.’ Just how bad was it going to be?

‘Okay.’ He drew out the word, then stopped as if searching for the easiest way to continue. ‘Peter’s parents wanted to protect him. When they drew up their will, they wanted to provide stability for him but also wanted to ensure he couldn’t access large amounts of money and slide back into bad habits. That’s why they wrote their will as they did. Peter was able to live here for the remainder of his life, but he couldn’t sell the house nor, of course, was he able to leave it to you.’

No house. Her future plans shot to hell. ‘He told me he’d rewritten his will when we married.’

Brown nodded. ‘Yes, he did, but I’m afraid his estate amounts to little. A savings account with some several hundred pounds and a current account that I’m afraid is likely to be in debit. When he came in about the new will, I encouraged him to think about life insurance, but I doubt if he took out a policy.’

Several hundred pounds. Allison heard the creaks as the life she’d planned, the future she’d imagined, shifted on the unexpectedly unstable foundation… shifted, cracked and fell in shards, slicing into her, leaving gaping bleeding wounds before landing with an ear-splitting crash around her feet.