Climbing out of the car, April spent longer than was entirely necessary seeing to Dexter. After she had attached his leash and double-checked it, she stole more time adjusting her scarf and bobble hat. She had yet to decide what to do. Could she manage without Tara? She doubted it. She couldn’t even zip up her jacket.

‘Here, let me take the dog,’ Faith said, assuming control. Dexter settled at her side within seconds and they both watched April zip up her jacket. ‘So what’s so important that you had to drag me out into the freezing cold when I could be snuggled up in bed?’

‘Nothing,’ April replied.

‘According to Tara’s message just now, it’s something more than nothing,’ Faith said. ‘I’m under instruction to hear you out.’

April’s mouth was dry. Tara’s question about her managing on her own had been rhetorical; she thought April could handle Faith without her. But why did she have to? What emergency had kept Tara away? April would have to worry about that later. She could only deal with one crisis at a time.

‘Let’s start walking,’ April said, heading down the hill. Unlike her previous walk with Tara and Faith, she chose to go against the flow of the river and turned east. Her eyes stung from the glare of the low winter sun.

‘I’m still waiting for an answer,’ Faith said, slipping on a pair of sunglasses.

‘You’re not going to like it.’

‘I’d worked that out for myself.’

April took a lungful of air that was so cold it hurt and yet beads of sweat pricked her brow. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘It’s about Nick.’

‘Again, no surprise.’

‘He’s been lying to you,’ April said, forcing out her words in a rush. ‘Tara and I have spoken to his sister.’

‘What? How the hell did you track her down?’

Faith’s tone was enough to make April flinch and her pace quickened. She kept her gaze fixed on the curve of Runcorn Bridge poking through a layer of low-lying mist when she said, ‘We were at a fundraiser at the weekend. It was being held in memory of Erin.’

‘And what were you doing there?’

‘It was my idea.’

April could feel Faith’s eyes boring into her from behind her sunglasses. Her friend was waiting for a proper answer.

‘I just wanted to see how Erin’s husband was doing,’ she said. ‘I felt guilty that Nick was in the group and he wasn’t.’

‘And you saw Nick’s sister?’