‘He has to,’ Lucy went on. ‘This happened to my friend’s husband once. By his own admission, he didn’t handle it well, and then the woman left the company, so he pretty much thought that was that. Next thing she’s gone public. His reputation was ruined.’

‘Well, that’s not going to happen to Harry,’ Kristin laughed. ‘Harry has the shiniest reputation in Lymington.’

‘Until the day he doesn’t,’ Lucy said.

Janie frowned.

‘I’m just saying,’ Lucy told her, ‘that you have to be careful. This woman at my friend’s husband’s company – well, you never know what anyone’s capable of, until you push them too far.’

‘You must have seen some stuff like that when you were a barrister?’ Anna was asking, and Janie snapped her head to look at her friend. ‘Cases where things in the office got out of hand?’

‘Which reminds me, tell us about your job, Anna?’ Lucy said. ‘When do you start?’

Janie felt the relief pour through her as the conversation shifted to Anna, who proceeded to tell them she was starting in a fortnight. But it wasn’t long before she turned back to Janie again. ‘Come on, did you have any interesting cases?’ she asked.

Janie’s head flooded with images of the case she had spent the last five-odd years pushing to the far corners of her mind. But she shook her head. She’d become good at keeping her mouth shut about that. About all the things that had happened back then. Miles Morgan … Sophie. The unease rippled inside her, making her feel like she was on a fairground ride.

She knew she was being watched again. She might have been able to pass off the shadow in the car park at the quay a couple of weeks back, but she definitely couldn’t ignore the fact someone was lurking near the house when she’d got home the previous night. She’d turned into their quiet lane, almost on autopilot, and done a double take when she’d seen the shadow.

The last time it had happened was when she was involved in the case, which had become a high-profile one, and she understood why someone might want something from her then. But it didn’t explain why it was happening again now.

Last night as she’d looked a second time, her stomach had jolted and her fingers twitched against the steering wheel. As quickly as the figure had appeared in her line of sight, it went away again, and by the time Janie reached their gate there was no sign of an intruder.

She’d glanced in the rear-view mirror. The girls were oblivious in the back seat, Ella’s head down as she flicked through photos on her phone, Lottie chewing the end of a pencil as she learned her spellings.