She smiled. ‘Sounds lovely. Living in a city, even a small one like Brighton, makes you forget the stars are there.’

A click from the switch and they were plunged into darkness. Piero must have already turned off the house lights and they were too far from the public road for its illumination to reach them. She heard him feel his way around the table then his weight settled beside her on the sofa. His voice came from a few inches away. ‘It’ll take several minutes for us to get our night vision. We can talk while we wait.’ He hesitated before adding, ‘Durante mentioned they’ve offered to tell Gerardo you’re here and see if he wants to meet.’

‘That’s right.’ The silvery sliver of moon was looking brighter already, as if realising it could properly show off its light without competition from man-made illumination. ‘I haven’t decided.’ Briefly, she ran through all the unwanted consequences she’d thought of – Gerardo’s relationship with his wife and kids and Lucia’s with Roberto and Fiorella. ‘It was freaky to meet Fiorella and Roberto. My other grandparents saw to half my upbringing but these don’t even know who I am.’ She paused to register an ever-growing number of stars twinkling into her vision. ‘Gran and Pap gave up their retirement in Spain because they thought I’d deal with Mum’s death better in England. They’d come to school concerts when they’d rather be watching TV or get up in the middle of the night to do jigsaws with me if I was crying too much to sleep.’

His fingers found hers and curled around them. ‘You’re in a tricky situation.’ After several moments, he added, ‘Of course, Fiorella and Roberto would have gone to your concerts and stuff, given the opportunity. They’ve been cheated out of a granddaughter.’

She gave a mirthless laugh. ‘Have you seen the Costa family tree? They have enough grandkids.’

‘And they love them all, from what I’ve observed.’ He lifted her hand and cradled it in both of his now, warm and slightly rough. ‘Have you thought about why Tori included “Costa” in your name? It might have been to honour Lucia but maybe she wanted you to feel entitled to it.’