‘You obviously haven’t heard about her exploits on holiday,’ Tara said with a smile. ‘That said, I wonder if she sees this as another holiday romance. She could be avoiding me because she knows I’ll give her a hard time for playing with Nick’s emotions. Running the group is difficult enough, but it would be a disaster if Faith dumps him the minute the plane lands and we’re left to pick up the pieces.’

‘So why do you sound as if you’d prefer that to happen?’

Tara stared into her coffee cup, where foam clung to the sides. ‘I want whatever’s best for Faith and I wish I believed that was Nick. I don’t know enough about him, I suppose.’ Her disquiet over the photographs was proving difficult to shake. ‘Maybe our interview process ought to be more thorough.’

Pulling a face, April asked, ‘What interview process?’

‘We vet all new members before we introduce them to the group. That’s why I arranged to meet you beforehand, and Justine did the same with Nick,’ Tara explained. ‘We like to go through what’s expected, particularly around confidentiality and mutual respect, but mostly it’s about making sure you’re genuinely interested and that you’ll fit in with the others.’

‘It’s a bit of a stretch calling it vetting if you’re taking everything you’re told on trust. Nick wouldn’t have found it difficult if he did have something to hide,’ April said, focusing on Tara’s doubts.

‘When we were setting up the group, Justine suggested we ask for death certificates to prove a member was widowed, and birth certificates too, but I thought she was being overly bureaucratic. We’ve never had an issue before, and there’s nothing to say we have one now.’

‘Isn’t there?’

‘It’s a gut feeling, that’s all,’ Tara said, and true enough it was making her nauseous.

‘There’s nothing to stop us doing some checks now,’ April said, looking into the distance as her mind whirred. ‘Social media would be a good start.’

‘Facebook?’ asked Tara. ‘There was talk of setting up a closed group for members, but it was another of Justine’s suggestions I wasn’t comfortable with. You can’t trust who might be accessing the information, and I leave it to Iain to run my business page. I can’t remember the last time I looked at my account.’

‘I noticed,’ April said. ‘I sent you a friend request ages ago and you ignored it!’

‘Did you send one to Nick?’

‘No, and I’m not sure I would now. He’d know we were checking up on him,’ she said. ‘But I could take a look on Twitter and Instagram to see if he or Erin had accounts. It’s a shame they weren’t married. I don’t suppose he’s ever mentioned her surname.’

‘Sorry.’