‘Water will be fine,’ Fiona said, folding her hands together on the table. (Rachel noticed a tissue peeking out of her sleeve.) She had a forthright way of talking that indicated she was a no-nonsense sort – or perhaps she was being brusque to hide the fact that she was nervous.

‘All right,’ Rachel said, her voice sounding similarly brusque. ‘I’ll get straight down to it then. As I mentioned via Messenger, I’m Stephen and Pamela Aston’s daughter. My mother, Pamela, has advanced dementia and is in a nursing home, and when we were clearing out her things I found a large amount of money stuffed into a hot-water bottle. There was also a piece of paper in the bottle with my sister’s name on it – and your name.’

‘My name?’ Fiona’s surprise appeared genuine.

‘Yes. I’d never heard your name before, so I asked Dad and he said he didn’t know anyone called Fiona Arthur.’

Fiona raised her eyebrows. ‘He said that?’

Rachel nodded. ‘And yet, you’re saying you and Dad used to be married. Do you know why he would lie?’

Fiona took a sip of water. ‘I’d say that’s a question for your father, Rachel.’

The waitress arrived and set Rachel’s coffee down in front of her. Rachel ignored it. ‘Do you have any idea why Mum would have written your name on that piece of paper?’

‘No,’ Fiona said. ‘None whatsoever.’

‘I thought perhaps Mum might have found out about you somehow and that’s why she wrote it.’

Rachel might have been imagining it, but at this Fiona looked faintly amused. ‘I think it’s unlikely.’

‘Why?’

‘Because your mum didn’t “find out” about me. She knew about me before I knew about her.’

Rachel took a minute to digest that. ‘You mean . . . Mum and Dad had an affair while you were married to Dad?’ Rachel couldn’t imagine it. Her parents were both such upstanding citizens. The idea of their relationship starting adulterously didn’t compute somehow.

‘It was a long time ago,’ Fiona said. ‘We don’t need to rehash it all.’

It was hard to rehash something that you’d only just learned, Rachel thought. But she decided to park that for now.

‘Okay, but Mum must have been thinking about you to have written your name. She wasn’t in touch with you in the last few years, was she? Even the last ten years, say?’

‘Not in the last thirty-five years,’ Fiona said.

She looked as though she was being truthful, but who knew? Dad had lied about knowing Fiona. Mum had never mentioned that Dad had an ex-wife. What were they trying to hide?

Rachel must have looked upset because Fiona softened.

‘Listen, I’m sorry to hear about your mother, Rachel, I truly am. But I’m afraid I don’t have any information that will help you. I don’t know why Pam wrote my name down. Perhaps she was just confused?’

‘Yes,’ Rachel said. ‘Perhaps.’

‘My advice would be that you speak to Stephen. He might have a good explanation for everything.’ She paused a second before adding: ‘He usually does.’