They were nearly back to the village when Rutledge pulled into a farmer’s muddy lane and switched off the engine.

Turning to Rachel, he said, “You told me about a letter last night. Whether you want to remember telling me or not, it’s up to you. But it will save all of us a great deal of time and fuss if you simply finish what you started.”

“What will you do, if I don’t? Make me walk back to Borcombe from here?” she retorted.

“You know I wouldn’t do that. Rachel for God’s sake, you may well be concealing evidence.”

“No, I’m not!” she said fiercely, turning in her seat to face him. “The letter was to me! Not to the police or an inquest full of prying eyes. I don’t know how you managed to make me speak of it. If I’d been myself, if you hadn’t tricked me, I never would have!”

“You told me, the day you sent for Scotland Yard,” he said tiredly, ignoring Hamish’s accusations and objections. “You made your decision then. And there’s nothing you can do now to take it back again.”

“I won’t let you have my letter!”

“Then tell me what it says.”

There was an angry silence between them. And then, in a voice that was so different he didn’t realize at first what she was doing, she began to repeat the words from memory.

“My Dear,

“The time has come for you to move away from the
past. Myself Peter. We’ve both cared for you, in our different
ways. But I’m not the man you think I am—I never was.
You must believe that! And Peter is gone. You’ve
grieved for him, and you may grieve for me, but neither
of us could have given you the happiness you want. More
than anything else, you must remember that we were only
pale shadows of what life ought to bring to you, the man
who will give you love and children and long years of joy.

“I have loved you too dearly to walk away in silence
and leave you alone with an empty heart. I have been
guilty of many things, but I have never taken your affection
for granted. Whatever may be said about me, I have never
lied to you. Don’t ever let them tell you otherwise!

“Yours,

Nicholas.”

There was a stillness in the car after she’d finished. He made himself look down at his hands, resting on the wheel, and not at her.