Perhaps their father had died when Ray was in prison? From what Charles had told her, Ray had spent most of his adult life so far behind bars. A flash of panic flashed through Grace. Was she safe here? But she looked around at the comfortable little room and its occupants and decided that whatever Ray might have done in the past, he appeared to have turned a corner now.

‘Ray never said,’ said Melissa. ‘But then he doesn’t talk about his family much.’

‘Charles told me that Ray went to live with his mother and that he didn’t really see much of their father after that.’

Melissa shrugged. ‘Like I say, he doesn’t tell me stuff from back then.’

Grace wasn’t surprised at this. Wasn’t Charles exactly the same? What was interesting, however, was that Melissa didn’t seem particularly curious about her husband’s past. If the boot had been on the other foot, Grace would have been nothing but questions.

She decided to change tack.

‘Tell me, how long have you lived in Whitley Bay?’ she asked.

Now Melissa sat up, more interested in talking about something she knew about.

‘All me life, like,’ she said. ‘With me mam to start with, and then I had a caravan.’ She smiled fondly at the memory. ‘It was a cracking little place, bit cold in the winter, mind. That’s where I was living when I met Ray.’

‘And when was that?’ Grace knew that her questions were bordering on the nosey, but she pressed on. Melissa would make it clear, no doubt, if she overstepped the mark.

‘Seven years back, in 1983, although it seems like yesterday. I was working as a barmaid in Newcastle and he just wandered into the pub off the street. Stood out like a sore thumb in there, he did. He’s classy, my Ray.’

Grace thought back to where her life had been in 1983. She and Charles had been married a couple of years by then, and Hector would have been one.

‘And then I fell pregnant and had our Leah. And then we got married.’ Melissa flushed. ‘Wrong way round that, I know, but it was a bit of a surprise, the baby, like.’ She threw Grace a sheepish grin. ‘So, we got married in the autumn after Leah was born the previous April.’

‘My daughter Clio was born in the autumn so she must be the school year behind Leah.’

Melissa didn’t look as if this meant much to her. Given where her daughter was currently, school seemed to be of limited importance to her. Then Grace had an idea.

‘Charles wasn’t at your wedding, was he?’ she asked, pleased that she might have made a connection, but Melissa shook her head.

‘No. It was just me and Ray. We didn’t even know the witnesses, like. It was dead romantic.’