‘Can I?’ asked Faith. She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and held the stone inches from her nose. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Are those random scratches, or could it be writing?’

‘I’ve been staring at that bloody thing all night,’ admitted April. ‘I can make out a J and what might be a T for Jason’s initials, but it’s in the middle, so maybe it’s a plus sign.’

‘I think it’s a plus sign,’ agreed Faith, ‘and there are more scratches to the left of it, but that’s harder to read. Is it an S?’

‘It could be,’ April said with a shrug.

Taking back the stone and the leash from Faith, April set off again and the others followed. Dexter kept checking for Faith’s approval. He was no longer leading the pack.

‘It doesn’t matter what the scratchings say, at least not completely. It’s what they represent. Jason plus someone else – someone who isn’t me,’ April said. ‘I’d almost convinced myself I was being paranoid and the cash withdrawals meant nothing. What an idiot am I? Totally trusting while he was alive and still ignoring what my subconscious has been screaming at me for the best part of a year.’

‘I’m so sorry, April,’ said Tara. She wanted to put an arm around her, but Faith was between them and as yet, she hadn’t realised that April needed the human touch.

‘I notice neither of you has said there’s some other explanation.’

‘It’s possible the stone ended up on Jason’s grave by accident,’ Faith said, digging her hands into her pockets. ‘A child could have picked it up from another grave and discarded it in the wrong place. But, when you consider the coincidence that the inscription includes the letter J, together with the bank account evidence and the doubts you had before Jason died, it does make for a compelling case.’

‘What about you, Tara? What do you think?’

Tara walked in silence for a while. She wanted nothing more than for April to find some form of resolution and the simplest and least painful way for that to happen was to give up on the idea that Jason had secrets. Unfortunately, the heart-shaped stone pointed down a rockier path. ‘No amount of talking is going to convince you one way or the other,’ she said. ‘You claim the letter that might be an S doesn’t matter, but is there a name that springs to mind?’

‘I don’t know everyone in Jason’s life, particularly his working life,’ April said. ‘I never audited the Highways Section because of the conflict of interest. I’ve met some of the staff, and I’m friends with a few, but Jason was on site a lot of the time and he dealt with all kinds of contractors.’