‘It was an easy decision but other people made it difficult.’ She tells him how Zoe’s parents had sued for custody, though they had never visited Nevis or even asked after her, how they’d wanted Zoe to abort her. Finally she relates the events of Sunday evening. He listens attentively, rocking very slowly on his heels, as if he were a spinning wheel onto which she was feeding twine.

‘So the real reason I’m here is because I want to be close to my daughter while this is going on.’

‘I see,’ he says, then brightening, adds, ‘Look, if you want her to stay on the boat with you, I’m sure…’

Honor shakes her head. ‘Thank you, but she wouldn’t come, not now. Something happened between us. I honestly have no idea what it was, but Nevis has been really distant with me since then.’

‘Oh God, teenagers,’ Alex says.

She smiles and allows the expression to fade slowly. ‘There’s something else too.’ She relates the meeting with Lea Keane. ‘I can’t get my head around why the university is trying to pretend what happened on Sunday was an accident.’

‘Aren’t they just being cautious? Especially if that’s what the parents are saying. I should imagine it’s all rather sensitive.’

‘Could be, but there was something evasive about the welfare woman I spoke to. As if she felt as uncomfortable about the situation as I did but wasn’t willing to say.’ She pats her thighs and, standing to leave, says, ‘Anyway, it might be nothing, but let’s say I’ve come across this kind of thing before. Just because it’s a hallowed educational institution, a university isn’t above covering up a crime to protect its reputation.’

‘Crime?’ He’s shocked, she can tell, but not disbelieving. Journalists must come across that kind of thing all the time. ‘Well, if I can do anything to help?’

‘You just did,’ she says.

He stands and follows her up the stairs onto the deck. ‘Come for supper later if you like. I make a none-too-shabby spag bol.’

‘That would be lovely.’

‘Seven then.’ He takes a step back and lowers his head under the cratch. ‘Oh, and, Honor, from an old hack and at the risk of teaching you to suck eggs, best not broadcast your suspicions. Not yet anyway. Universities have deep pockets and lawyers. But it sounds like you already know that.’

She smiles and says nothing.

Chapter 22

Nevis

Nevis finds Jessica Easton where Tash said she’d be: on a cross-trainer in the gym. She is thinner and more nervy looking in the flesh. Her phone is balanced on the dashboard of the trainer and she is gazing at something on the screen with a blank expression on her face. Nevis approaches, waving. Jessica frowns and slows to a halt, twists an earbud from her right ear.

‘Yes?’

‘It’s about Satnam.’