‘Yes, you should,’ I say and then, ‘I’m sorry if I came across as overdramatic.’ It’s not a straight apology, but it’s all I can bring myself to say in light of things. The keys. The person in the woods. Agnes Gowdie.

‘You know I only did it to protect you?’ Rav asks, linking his fingers through mine on my free hand. ‘I didn’t want you to worry about anything, but I realize now I made the wrong decision.’

Tears sting my eyes and I blink them back, not taking my gaze away from our linked hands. Rav did make the wrong decision, and the fact that he kept things from me hurts, but I don’t want to fight with him about it. The baby squawks and I feel a twist in my chest. It’s not worth ruining the weekend over. And maybe, I think, maybe Rav does have a point. Maybe I am reading too much into things, letting myself get upset over things that don’t really matter. I want that to be the case, anyway.

‘I know,’ I say eventually, ‘seeing someone in the woods … trying to find out about the history of the house … it freaked me out a bit. Can we start again?’ I lean forward and kiss him now, properly, not a chaste peck on the cheek. He looks as tired as I feel, and I can hear the faint strains of canned laughter from the television downstairs that tells me Mina is already up and awake.

‘Good idea,’ he says. I think I see a flicker of irritation cross his face when I mention seeing someone in the woods but it’s so fleeting, I can’t be sure. ‘So, no more about witches, or people in the woods?’

I shake my head. ‘No more.’ But even as I say it, I picture the flash of white, moving at speed through the trees, Miranda’s words ringing loudly in my ears.

The weekend passes in a flash, and I manage to get through most of it by trying not to think too hard about the house, and the strange things connected to it. It helps that the weather is beautiful, so we spend Saturday away from the house, away from Pluckley. Rav promises not to work for the whole weekend and we take Mina and the baby to the beach – Rav wants to go to Joss Bay, but I can’t bear the anxiety of all the sand, whipping up into the baby’s face or getting in Mina’s swimsuit and making her skin sore, so we compromise, ending up at Deal for chips on the pebbled beach, Mina running in and out of the waves as they brush the shoreline.