Only four months, Lucy thought, barely enough time for the reality of it to sink in, let alone for time to rub the rough edges from the grief. No wonder Finn was terse. She wondered why he had chosen to continue with the job for Verity after Charlie had died. She was surprised that he wanted to be within a hundred miles of Knightstone. But she didn’t want to pry and she knew Finn wasn’t going to offer any further information. His mouth was set in a tight line.

“Do you have any potential designs to show us?” Cleo asked, breaking the slightly tense silence.

“Yes, of course.” Finn reached for his sketchbook and flipped it open. “I’ve drafted out a few ideas of the garden we think may have been here.”

“This is so exciting!” Cleo leaned forward to look at the drawings as he spread them out on the table. “So you’re tackling the whole valley? Wow, that’s ambitious. Will you be digging up Clarabelle’s paddock as well?”

“Who?” Lucy was all at sea.

“The donkey of course,” Cleo said, as though Lucy should have known its name. “Her field is part of the original Gunpowder Cottage estate, although I think Verity lets it out now.”

“We’ll definitely investigate some of the features in it.” Finn shot her a smile. “There are some interesting humps and bumps in that field. They could be walls or other structures, and we need to look at the landscape as a whole, so that will include the cottage gardens, the valley, the orchard and field, the area around the barn—”

“Wait a minute,” Lucy said. She could see her peaceful holiday suddenly invaded by mechanical diggers and people coming and going. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t a clue what she was going to do with herself whilst she was there. She’d started to imagine that she might relax in the sunshine and quiet, but now that seemed highly unlikely. “What you’re saying is that basically the whole area is going to become one huge excavation site,” she said.

“I’m sure Finn won’t get in your way, Lucy,” Cleo said quickly, hearing the challenge in her tone. “He said they were only digging small test areas and the barn is pretty secluded anyway. Plus it’s not as though they’ll be interrupting you at work—” She stopped, looking stricken. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to be tactless.”

Lucy shook her head to banish the prickle of tears. “I know,” she said. It didn’t help that Cleo hadn’t meant to hurt her; it did hurt because she felt so pointless.

“Perhaps you could join the excavation,” Cleo said, brightening up. “That would give you something to occupy yourself with whilst you work out what to do next with your life.”

“I certainly won’t be doing any digging,” Lucy snapped. “If I can’t hold a violin bow, I wouldn’t be able to hold a trowel.”

“Fair enough,” Cleo said, ploughing on, “but what about the paperwork? I’m sure Finn could do with some help with admin and it would stop you sitting around fretting—”