Greg was playing cricket with Josh in the garden. Allie could hear the thwack of the ball on wood, their cheers and laughter from the front of the house as she got out of the car. It was nice, hearing them like that – it felt like it had been a long time. Almost nice enough to make her forget, if only temporarily, that it was a sound she would soon lose. Almost, but never really, because it was the only thing she’d been able to think about since Greg had made his threats – threats she knew he would have no qualms about making good.

Perhaps she wouldn’t go through and interrupt them just yet. She owed as many days of happiness to Josh as she could still manage before his world was torn apart and this might be one of the last. Besides, she was tired and her head pounded.

The front door clicked quietly behind her as she closed it. Shedding her jacket at the coat rack in the hall, she made her way swiftly up the stairs and lay on her bed, the sheets cool and the room shaded as the sun moved around the house. The day had started off murky, but now the cloud had broken away in chunks to reveal flashes of blue and daggers of sunlight.

She closed her eyes, but sleep wouldn’t come, as stubborn now as it had been overnight. Sooner or later, sheer exhaustion would take her and she’d fall into oblivion; she longed for it with all her heart. Not now, though. The sounds of Josh and Greg still playing drifted up through the open window. Once, she would have gone to sit in the garden with a drink and laughed along with them. They would have finished their game and she would have brought snacks out – breadsticks and hummus, little triangles of ham and bread, sweet cherry tomatoes and lush green salad, strawberries and cream. A garden picnic Josh would call it, his favourite summertime treat. Greg wasn’t home often, so they’d make the most of every moment.

Allie squeezed her eyes tight, tears oozing from the corners and gravity taking them down into her ears as she lay on her back. She wiped them away. Tears wouldn’t make things better, and tears were for people who deserved pity. Not for her then, who was so spineless she couldn’t do the one decent thing that had been asked of her. Not only was Harper still blissfully ignorant of Shay’s betrayal, but Allie would now have to lie to Greg about it too. He would find out; he was bound to in a village as small as theirs. If only they’d moved to Germany when he’d asked, taken the plunge and made a new life there together instead of stubbornly insisting that she wanted to stay in England, that they could make a long-distance marriage work. Perhaps they’d be out in a garden in some suburb of Düsseldorf or Frankfurt or Berlin now, laughing at cricket and eating a garden picnic.

Suddenly, she was aware that the sounds from outside had stopped. Then Josh’s footsteps echoed on the stairs, followed by Greg’s.

‘Go and get changed,’ she heard Greg say. ‘If we’re quick we can catch the last showing and get pizza afterwards.’

He appeared at the bedroom door, clearly not expecting her to be there. She bolted up on the bed, rubbing her eyes clear.

‘You’re going into Salisbury?’ she asked.

‘Change of scenery,’ he said stiffly, marching over to the wardrobe and pulling a pair of fresh jeans and a shirt out. ‘Josh wanted to see that new sci-fi film and you did say I had to make up for missing swimming the other day.’

Allie nodded. ‘That’s good,’ she said. ‘He’ll like that.’

‘I’d ask you to come but…’

‘I know.’

There was silence as he went through to the bathroom and she allowed herself to sink back into the pillow. A few moments later he emerged, drying his hands on a towel.

‘You went up to Silver Hill Farm?’

‘You know I did.’

‘And?’

‘I told her.’

‘That’s it?’

‘What else do you want me to say? Are you looking for gory details? Because I don’t have any. I told her, and I left it at that.’

‘How did she react?’

‘How do you think she reacted? I didn’t stick around to see it; didn’t think that was fair.’

He nodded slowly. ‘For once, it seems you thought about someone else’s feelings. Perhaps there’s hope for you yet.’

Allie sat up to see he was buttoning his shirt, watching her thoughtfully as he did.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said. ‘I know it’s probably tough for you to move out immediately and it would be hard on Josh. So take a couple of weeks if you need it. Find somewhere suitable to live, somewhere appropriate for Josh to visit. I’ll help you get it kitted out and make it habitable. There’s no point in being a bastard about this – at least for Josh’s sake.’

Allie blinked at him. Was she supposed to fall at his feet at this point and thank him for his infinite mercy? Was she supposed to argue that she could manage without his help? Or was she simply supposed to accept his offer of a reasonable middle ground? There was no doubt that his help would make life a lot more bearable, but it was just another way in which him having the moral high ground gave him all the power.

‘OK,’ was all she could think to say.

‘We’ll talk about it later,’ he said. He gave her a tight smile, the first that looked almost genuine in a long time. ‘Get some sleep,’ he said. ‘You look like death.’

Hardly likely to happen, she thought bitterly, but as she watched him leave the room, the beginnings of something she hadn’t felt in a long time fluttered in her breast. Was it hope?

---

It had been a strange day, running the tearoom without Pip; Shay had done a great job with the animals, and had even been uncharacteristically chatty with the visiting children, which had made Harper smile with pride. How she could have doubted him was beyond her – in her hour of need he’d stepped up to the plate in every conceivable way, solid and dependable and happy to help. As they closed up, he’d even taken the mop from her and finished the floors, ordering her to go and get a bath and promising to treat them to a takeaway from a nearby Chinese restaurant.

The air was fragrant with warm spices, orange sauce and scented candles as Harper’s phone rang.

‘That’ll be Pip,’ she said, leaping up from the sofa and picking her way across the foil-carton-strewn floor where the remains of their meal still languished. They’d been too full and lazy to move any of it and, having followed it with the remainder of their bottle of wine, they were now in the early stages of foreplay. Shay smoothed away a frown as Harper made an apologetic face and took the call.

‘Hey!’ she said brightly. ‘How’s everything? You got there OK? Esther is well? You’ve seen her?’

‘Steady on,’ Pip said, sounding relaxed and cheerful at the other end of the line.

Harper felt the tension drain from her. Pip wasn’t good at hiding emotions, so this was a good sign.

‘We’re having dinner and then we’re going to catch a show,’ she said. ‘Something or other at the Royal Court – I forget what it is but Esther says it’s supposed to be a triumph. Which means I’ll be asleep by the interval.’

Harper made out a hiss of disapproval from what must have been Esther in the background, and then Pip giggling.

‘You’re OK though?’ she asked.

‘Yes. I can’t talk for long but I wanted to let you know everything is fine; I know how much you worry.’

Harper’s smile was wide. ‘I’m so pleased for you,’ she said, guessing what Pip didn’t have time to tell her. They’d obviously picked up where they’d left off as if nothing had ever parted them, and Harper couldn’t be happier for her friend, who’d suffered so much since Esther had left England. No matter who’d told her to move on, how much she’d told herself she ought to start dating again, it had only ever been Esther for Pip. Harper just hoped that, this time, Esther would stick around.

‘Thank you,’ Harper said.

‘Everything alright at the farm?’

‘Yes.’ Harper sent a flirty glance Shay’s way. He waggled his eyebrows and grabbed his crotch. ‘Shay’s been brilliant. I don’t know what I would have done without him.’

‘That’s good,’ Pip said. ‘I might stay for the whole week. If that’s OK, of course.’

‘Of course,’ Harper said, hardly taking in what Pip had said at all as Shay was now beckoning her back to his arms. ‘We’ll be fine here.’

‘Well… I’ll call you and—’

‘Pip?’

The line was dead.

‘I’ve lost her.’ Harper frowned, stabbing at the phone to reconnect the call. ‘Bloody signal.’

‘One of the perils of living in the country,’ Shay said, standing and taking the phone from her. ‘Pip knows what it’s like; she’ll expect you to phone her tomorrow now. She’s OK?’

‘She’s brilliant by the sounds of things. They’re already out on the town. I’m so happy for her.’

‘Then you don’t need to worry about anything, do you?’ Shay put Harper’s phone on the mantelpiece and took both her hands, placing them on the bulge in his trousers. ‘Except for that…’ he added in a silky whisper.

‘I can cope with that,’ she said.

‘Yeah? Why don’t we put it to the test?’ He grinned, leading her to the stairs.

---

Cesca put the pile of papers to one side and switched off her desk lamp. Yet again she’d ended up working until dusk coloured the skies above the museum. It probably hadn’t helped that she’d spent over four hours out with Kristofer – first visiting Will and then at the pub discussing what they’d brought away from his place to read through. The time seemed to go nowhere when Kristofer was around, draining away like water from a tap. She’d hardly noticed how late it was until Kristofer himself checked his watch and announced that his father was having routine minor surgery back in Norway early the following morning and Kristofer wanted to get home to phone him and wish him luck. The afternoon had been pleasant, full of banter, intellectual discussion and a healthy dollop of flirting. But now, as night cloaked the city, it was Will Frampton’s face that kept sneaking into her thoughts. It was different, this strange, grudging emotion forming in her gut whenever she pictured him, relived the moment in the old bedroom of his sprawling house when… what? What had happened there? What might have happened had they not been disturbed?

The fortunes of Silver Hill House and its owner were getting under her skin in a way that probably wasn’t healthy. It certainly wasn’t helping her to compile an impartial report on the finding at Silver Hill Farm. Thank goodness for Kristofer – without any loyalties, at least he’d do a thorough job of working out the facts, just for the joy of the task itself. Which was exactly what she ought to have been doing. But she found herself more and more wrapped up in the potential future of the tumbledown pile that Will called home. She almost wondered if it was the house seducing her thoughts, rather than its resident.

What was more confusing still was Will’s reaction to Kristofer. There’d been nothing but open friendliness from Kristofer, but Cesca felt sure that if Will could have thrown him off the premises without damaging his insufferable sense of etiquette, he would have done. Kristofer was there to help, was insanely curious and enthusiastic about Will and his family’s lineage, and yet Will, notwithstanding his usual cold courtesy, had seemed to hate him on sight. No matter how she looked at things, Cesca couldn’t work out why.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone skittering across the desk as it buzzed an incoming call. Picking it up, she swiped to answer, frowning slightly as she saw Kristofer’s name displayed.

‘I was just thinking about you—’ she began, but he cut her off, his words tumbling over one another.

‘I’ve found something very interesting; can you come?’

‘Now? But…’

‘You could come in the morning but I may not sleep with all the excitement,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘Actually… I’ll email you a link to the website I’ve been looking at.’

‘Website?’ Cesca repeated. ‘What website?’

‘Hold on,’ Kristofer said. ‘I’m sending it now. You can read it and tell me what you think. OK?’

‘OK. But you still need me to come over?’

‘It’s late,’ he said. ‘I understand if you don’t want to. But I will stay up for a few hours more, so you are welcome if you want to talk.’

Cesca smiled to herself. She knew exactly what Duncan would have to say about such a proposition had he been there.

‘I’ll take a look first,’ she said. ‘Then I’ll call you once I know what I’m supposed to be excited about and we’ll go from there.’