‘Keep me company, sis?’ Mark waved the bottle of champagne, still half full.

‘Haven’t we had enough?’

‘It’s just a little. C’mon. Old time’s sake, and all that.’

She took the glass. ‘Here’s to your success as a pilot. I’ll miss you.’

‘Me too, little sis.’

‘But it’ll be good for you to get away, don’t you think?’

‘Perhaps.’ He sighed. ‘But I’m still so angry.’

‘Angry? With Ray? It wasn’t his fault, was it?’

‘With those people at the Manor.’

‘The Manor?’

He lowered his voice. ‘You mustn’t tell anyone. Promise?’

She was about say ‘Cross my heart and hope to die,’ but stopped herself just in time. ‘I promise. Whatever is it?’

‘That Supermarine has such a good safety record, and it was being flown by our most experienced pilot. The weather was perfect. So what caused the crash?’ He lowered his voice further. ‘Rumour has it those boffins had put some kind of extra wires onto the wings and tail plane, something to do with the research they’re doing.’

‘You think their wires actually caused the crash?’ she gasped, the blood turning to ice in her veins. Could this be what Vic had meant when he’d said his friend’s death was probably his fault? No wonder he’d been so devastated that day – no wonder he seemed to have disappeared from view. She hoped he hadn’t left the Manor for good.

‘There’s been an inquiry, but we’ll never know the answer. Everything’s so bloody hush-hush up there.’ The strain was marked on his face. ‘If you pick anything up, will you tell me?’

‘Of course. It’s unlikely I’ll hear anything because we’re just kitchen staff, and they never seem to talk about work around us.’

‘It’d just help clear my mind to know it wasn’t anything Ray did.’

‘Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t anything like that. Not Ray.’ But what if those wires were found to be the cause? Could Vic and his team be charged with manslaughter, or worse? The implications were so complicated and so terrible, she couldn’t really get her head around it.

Mark poured the last of the champagne and they drank in silence. He took a breath, as though about to say something, then fell quiet again. Then he whispered, so quietly that she could hardly hear: ‘I miss him so much, Kath.’

‘It’s only natural. It’s a perfectly horrible thing to happen.’

‘No, I mean I really miss him.’

‘We all do, Mark. He was a good friend.’

‘He wasn’t just a friend, though.’ A further long silence, and then, on an expiring breath: ‘I loved him.’

‘We all . . .’

‘If only I could make you understand,’ he cut in. ‘I really loved him, Kath, don’t you see? It’s so difficult . . . and I can’t even talk to anyone about it. I thought I wasn’t normal, but then I found him and he’s the same as me. Was the same as me . . .’ His voice broke and then, to her dismay, his face crumpled and he began to cry.