Then there was the fact that Rachel had given her that money. She got out the bag of money now and looked it.

‘Where did you get this, Mum?’ she whispered.

The boys were on the grass now, sprinting away from Sonny, who was pretending to be a hungry grizzly bear. Tully opened the window.

‘Sonny! Have you got a sec?’

For a moment, he kept on with the game, and Tully thought he was going to ignore her. But after a few seconds, he said something to the boys and, abandoning the chase, headed indoors.

‘What is it?’ he said, when he arrived in the bedroom.

She gave him the bag of money. He looked at it and then immediately thrust it back at her, aghast. ‘Tully,’ he said. ‘Please don’t tell me you stole this.’

‘Oh no . . . I didn’t,’ she said. She very nearly laughed at his assumption, even though, she realised, it was in fact the most logical one. ‘Although I guess Mum might have. Rachel found it with Mum’s things, stuffed inside a hot-water bottle.’

‘Seriously?’ He looked down at the bag again. ‘You swear you didn’t take it?’

‘I swear. You can ask Rachel.’

That seemed to be enough for Sonny. He looked inside the bag. ‘How much is there?’

‘Nearly a hundred thousand.’

His eyebrows shot up. ‘A hundred grand? How did Pam come by that kind of money?’

‘We don’t know. All we know is that it was inside the hot-water bottle along with a note that had my name on it and the name Fiona Arthur. We don’t know who she is, but according to Mum, Dad hurt her in some way.’

Sonny was shaking his head. ‘This is madness.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘But Dad told Rachel she could keep the money, and when I told Rachel about our financial worries, she said I could keep it. I don’t feel comfortable accepting it all, but I thought maybe half?’ She shrugged. ‘I know that wouldn’t solve all our problems, but every little bit helps, right?’

It took a minute, but finally he started to nod. ‘Yes, every little bit helps. Though I’m not sure what the bank will think when I show up with cash in a plastic bag.’

‘We might need to launder it,’ Tully said earnestly, and was delighted when Sonny laughed.

‘You think Pam has given us dirty money?’

Now Tully laughed. ‘I don’t know what that means, but I’m going to say no.’

Sonny smiled. ‘Good old Pam.’

‘Good old Mum.’

They were standing close together, staring down at the money. Their sides were skimming each other, and Tully could feel Sonny’s body move with his breath. It was the closest they’d been in over a week. Tully felt an urge to throw her arms around him, but she held back.

‘Sonny,’ she said, ‘I know you’re upset with me, and I understand. But I promise I’m going to stop stealing. I’m going to make this right.’