We smiled at each other. Aidan’s hair fell over his forehead. He was relaxed and seemed as happy as I was to be sharing a drink in his kitchen. Perhaps it was the sight of the emptying bottle that prompted me to ask a question I had been contemplating. “Speaking of David…”

“Which we weren’t, were we?” He gave me an indulgent look, as if I were a child in need of gentle correction. “And if we were, let’s not, shall we? It’s such a tiresome subject.”

“But I have something I must ask you.” I had begun to know Aidan well enough to understand that his flippancy almost always hid true concern and that he would listen to me if I persevered. “Tell me, did you ever go to David’s house on the island?”

His mouth tightened so slightly that it was almost imperceptible. He pushed back his hair thoughtfully. “Are you quite sure you wish to know?”

This disconcerted me. “Why should I not?” Then I thought of something. “If you mean he takes cocaine there, that doesn’t matter. You told me you never touch it, and I believe you. But I would love to know what the house is like. He couldn’t take me there because the whole time we were working on the film the house was being remodelled. He’d recently bought it, he said. Sometimes he stayed there, but other times he stayed at his club.”

He looked at me, lips slightly parted, his wine glass forgotten between his fingers. “So that’s what he told you, is it?” The space between us in the small room was only the length of his arm. Still watching me, he reached out and placed his palm on my cheek. His voice was low. “Clara, the whole time we were working on that film, David, Marjorie and that whole ghastly set were hopping in and out of each other’s beds in that house. It’s called ‘Le Grenier’ or some damned silly French name. And he’s had it for ages. I’ve only been there once, years ago, before David and I became enemies. It’s nothing special, just a sort of bungalow. And it certainly hasn’t been renovated in the last fifty years.”

I looked down at the book on my lap. “So Mrs Schofield doesn’t exist, then?”

“Who?”