‘Alex brought fresh bread,’ Honor says. Nevis doesn’t appear to have noticed him sitting at the kitchen table. She looks up, her eyes lighting briefly on the visitor, then dropping back to her phone. ‘Oh, hello.’

‘No update on what happened at Three Lakes?’

‘Not on the local news site, or on the Bristol Journal page. They just say a body’s been found. They don’t even mention her name or that she was an Avon student.’

‘And you’re absolutely sure it’s Tash?’ Honor says.

‘Of course I am. It’s all over the internet,’ Nevis says, sounding irritated. ‘I tried calling her number last night but it just went straight to voicemail and now her inbox is full. I guess everyone else had the same idea.’

‘Don’t they have to be careful about reporting suicides?’ Honor says, addressing herself to Alex.

Nevis’s head jerks up. ‘Who says it was a suicide? It could have been an accident; it could have been anything.’

It is such a surprising thing to say that for an instant Honor is stunned into silence.

‘You’re right, of course, Nevis,’ Alex says. ‘The police haven’t ruled anything out and there can be all kinds of reasons for stopping the press from naming the victim. The paper might even have decided to protect the family’s privacy, but I think it’s more likely that they don’t want to piss off the university. The local press is clinging on by its fingernails at the moment and Avon will be a major advertiser for them. The classifieds, the jobs pages, not to mention a source of stories.’

Honor goes over and sits down beside her daughter. ‘Have you thought about what I said last night? About going to the police.’

‘There’s no point.’

Slapping his thighs and rising from his chair Alex says, ‘I should be off. Lots to do.’ Addressing himself to Honor, he adds, ‘Ten o’clock OK for us to go over and see Gary?’

‘I’ll come to the Helene. And thanks for the bread.’

She watches him go then turns back towards her daughter to find her sitting with her feet on the sofa, arms around her knees, as if trying to squeeze herself small.

‘Who’s Gary?’

‘Work thing,’ Honor says.

‘So why is Alex coming? Is he your boyfriend now or what?’ The sharpness of the tone is surprising. Nevis shifts her position. ‘Sorry.’

‘That’s OK.’ Honor moves over to the sofa and sits beside her. This is all too much for any young woman. She gets it. The anxiety and confusion, the constant drumbeat of guilt and the fear that there may be no answers and that at some point you might have to stop looking for them. Reaching out she picks up her daughter’s hand. Nevis does not pull it away.

Honor says, ‘Look at me.’

Nevis twists her head and eyes her mother sceptically.