“You didn’t have to take it out on us,” I say, voice barely more than a whisper. “You didn’t have to take it out on Bella.”

“Is that what you think?”

“I think you know what happened. I think you know how—why—she died.”

He steps closer to me and I force myself not to back away.

“Is this why you’re here with me? You think I’m going to confess to something? Well, sorry, Tess, but I don’t know what happened to your sister. To me, it was just another person I cared about taken away.” He pauses and when he speaks again, his tone is almost gentle. “Truth is, I cared about your sister. I liked her. She got me, we were the same. She was the only person I could talk to and then she died as well.”

He reaches out and pushes a lock of hair out of my face. I flinch and pull away.

“I’m not the bad guy this time. I do not have your sister’s blood on my hands. Can you say the same?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You and Leo…you’re the ones the police keep talking to. They obviously believe you know something about Dad’s death. So perhaps you should own up to your own crimes; don’t come after me for something I had nothing to do with.”

He turns and walks away, leaving me frozen and alone in the woods.

Jack’s gone from the house by the time I get there and Dad’s out, a note on the table telling me he’s gone to pick up Max and Lena’s parents from the airport. The house still feels full, though, and it squeezes something tight inside me, the presences I can feel in Dad’s house of dead women. No sound but the ticking of Dad’s clocks, all out of sync, but beyond it, I swear I can hear breathing. It raises all the hairs on the back of my neck, and my hands are shaking as I step back outside and lock the door. How am I ever going to be able to live here again if I can’t even stand to be alone in the house for two minutes without being chased off by ghosts?

I head for the village to collect the film I dropped off. They hand the photos over in a sealed envelope and I resist the urge to tear it open there and then. I put it in my bag and force myself to wait until I’m away from the shops and people, stopping at a bench in the lane back to the house.