Between them, they scoured the house from top to bottom, making absolutely sure there was no-one there. Every room, every cupboard, every corner of the attic, until Caroline’s heartbeat had returned to normal and she could tell herself quite reasonably and logically that there was no-one else in the house.

She didn’t have a spare lock, and had no idea how the intruder had managed to unlock that one in any case. Dexter said he suspected it had been picked and that she should invest in a better lock — something Caroline immediately bumped up to the top of the growing home improvements list.

When Dexter left, taking the letter with him, she locked the door and left the key in, pulled the security chain across and wedged one of Archie’s toys under the handle to add an extra layer of security. She knew she wouldn’t sleep well tonight, and wondered if she should even bother trying. With nothing else to do, and wanting to hear a safe and familiar voice, she picked up her phone and FaceTimed Mark.

‘Hey you,’ Mark said as he answered, his characteristic smile on his face.

‘Hi. How’s things? How are the boys?’

‘Yeah, all good. Think they’re starting to get a bit edgy. I forgot to mention to them that Grandma doesn’t have an Xbox.’

Caroline laughed. ‘Yeah, I wondered how long they’d manage without Minecraft.’

‘Oh no, don’t worry. Josh managed to get hold of that on his phone.’

‘Course he did.’ Caroline had silently cursed their decision to allow Josh to have his first phone recently, but her job meant she knew the advantages and disadvantages. Knowing where Josh was at all times was key, as was his ability to get in touch with them should he need to — especially after the bullying he’d endured at his last school in London. These days, parental controls and security settings were easy to lock down, and on balance she felt it had been the right decision.

She felt safer now, speaking to Mark, knowing there was no-one else in the house and anyone trying to get in would struggle to do so. Logically, she understood the intruder wouldn’t break in with her there. That was why he’d waited until she’d left the house earlier that evening. Indeed, she now felt certain Edward Picton was their man and that he hadn’t intended to visit the Wheatsheaf at Greetham at all, but had been playing them all along, and had instead broken into her house and left that letter on her coffee table.

‘You look… better,’ Mark said, pulling her back to the here and now.

‘Do I?’ She couldn’t see any conceivable way in which the last few hours would’ve made her look better than she had before.

‘Yeah. You look less… I dunno. Stressed. You seem more relaxed.’