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Sean grinned a self-satisfied-trying-to-look-modest grin as he placed his coffee cake on the eats table. Although a reasonable cook, he was not much of a baker, and his previous contributions to book club tea had been rather amateurish in their execution – a wonky carrot cake that had somehow risen more on one side than the other; a chocolate cake with a dip in the middle; a plate of slightly undercooked cheese straws. This cake was symmetrical and smoothly iced, and smelled tantalisingly of fresh coffee.

‘That looks incredible!’ said Tabitha.

Dylan nodded approvingly. ‘Proper professional.’

‘I watched a video on YouTube,’ Sean said. ‘It was Jono’s idea. He found it for me. It’s quite amazing what you can get online! Step-by-step instructions, and you can see exactly what it’s meant to look like at every stage.’

He seemed genuinely amazed by the existence of cooking videos, as did Tabitha.

‘Really?’ she said. ‘I can see how that would be useful. I always feel nervous when I read “beat until stiff peaks form”.’

‘Yes, or “until smooth and glossy”.’

‘What even is that? Glossy?’

‘And then there’s “bake until golden”.’

‘Exactly. I start to doubt myself. I mean, is it really golden, or is that more like light brown?’

‘That’s the beauty of the videos,’ said Sean. ‘You can see the exact colour it’s meant to be.’

Dylan smiled at this exchange, which probably sounded like something from medieval times to him. Julia had come late to baking – her ex-husband Peter had been the cook in their marriage – but when she had, she had just followed the recipes and hoped for the best without overthinking it. She certainly didn’t try to differentiate between shades of gold and light brown. Her offerings might not be professional level, but it was her experience that fresh-baked foods were always appreciated and generally wolfed down, even if they were a little rough around the edges.

Pippa came in, looking flustered, her blonde ponytail askew. ‘Sorry I’m late. One of the puppies ate a plastic dinosaur that my friend’s child dropped…’

‘What sort of dinosaur? Was it a diplodocus?’ asked Dylan. ‘A stegosaurus?’

‘I have absolutely no idea, but I had to wait and see if it appeared and then…’ She surveyed the appalled faces of the book lovers and said, ‘Never mind.’

She settled into a comfortable armchair with a happy sigh.

Diane arrived on the very dot of six thirty. ‘Made it!’ she said, plonking her bag of books onto an empty seat.

The book club members were all there except for Jane, whose absence was hardly surprising.

‘I think this is us, for today. Let’s get seated and start, shall we?’ said Tabitha.

They found seats, settling in with their books, ready for discussion. The library cat, who went by the name Too, sashayed in and looked around the assembled group, as if deciding who to favour with her company. Clearly, no lap was to her liking that day, because she looked mildly pained and took up a position on the floor in the centre of the circle, where she could be easily admired by everyone present while she groomed her tail with long, determined licks of her pink tongue.

‘Did you hear about Jane?’ asked Diane, before Tabitha could kick things off.

This wasn’t a sufficiently precise question, given what had happened to Jane recently. They all looked at Diane expectantly for further information.

‘After all she’s been through, the poor woman, losing her husband like that,’ said Diane, her already somewhat bulbous eyes growing rounder. The book clubbers waited expectantly. ‘She’s been taken in for questioning by the police.’

Julia’s blood ran cold. This had to be something to do with that lawyer who’d turned up this morning, talking about the divorce papers.

‘For questioning?’ asked Pippa. ‘Surely not.’

‘Surely yes. My sister’s friend lives next door to Jane. She was visiting Jane when Jane got the call from that young fella, Walter.’

‘I mean, they can’t imagine she had anything to do with what happened.’

‘Of course not!’ said Diane. ‘It’s not possible. I don’t understand what the police are thinking.’

‘I’m sure the Berrywick police have everything under control. They probably just need more information,’ said Tabitha.

‘At 5.02p.m.?’ said Diane, whose information was clearly up to the minute.

‘Justice never sleeps, yeah?’ said Dylan, as if 5.02p.m. was the middle of the night.

‘Julia?’ said Diane.

‘What? ’

‘You know all about police things. You know the detectives. And you know Jane. Can’t you do something?’

‘Diane, I agree with Tabitha,’ Julia said. ‘We must let the police do their job.’

‘Yes, but Jane isn’t…’

‘Come on now,’ said Tabitha. ‘I know we’re all very concerned about Jane’s well-being, and about finding answers to what happened to Graham. But the only thing we can do right now is to be together, and get on with our book club meeting. So. Shall we?’

Diane hesitated for a moment, sending a final pleading look Julia’s way, then settled back into her chair. ‘Okay then. You’re right, Tabitha. Books. Well, I must say, I enjoyed this memoir of a French woman who lived with the elephants in South Africa.’ She held up the book for inspection, and talk turned to elephants, and the African bush, and adventure, and brave women. Julia’s mind was elsewhere, though. At a lawyer’s office, where papers had been in the process of being drawn up to end a marriage. A marriage that had come to an end in a different, unexpected way, just twenty-four hours later.

At the end of book club, Julia said her goodbyes and left, nicely full of coffee cake, and with a tote bag full of books over her shoulder. Sean walked out with her. They stood on the pavement in air just chilly enough to turn their breath visible.

‘Sorry I can’t stay over,’ Sean said. ‘I need to get back to Jono.’

‘I quite understand. Perhaps we can get together at the weekend…Or the following weekend, if that’s better.’

‘Yes. I’d like that. It’s just that I’m at work all day, so I’m just giving him some time with having me, you know…around, in the evenings. We’ll have more time together when he’s a bit more settled.’

‘Sean,’ she took his hand, and spoke softly. ‘There’s no pressure. Of course I want to see you, but I am absolutely willing to wait until you think the time is right. You must do what’s best for Jono, and for your relationship with him.’

‘Thank you. I do worry. He’s quite vulnerable, I think. And it sounds like he’s been drinking a lot. Not now, but when he was in London. He had the most frightful hangover when I collected him. I’m trying to encourage him to see a professional. A doctor or a psychologist. He’s always resisted, but he’s a bit more open to it now. He can see he needs help. I’m hopeful that while he’s here, he’ll agree.’

‘I can see he’s calmer already. Being with you is grounding; it’s good for him.’

‘I think it’s being with Leo that calms him.’ Sean laughed, but Julia could tell he was only half joking.

‘He’s brilliant with dogs.’

‘If he had to deal with dogs instead of people, he’d be just fine, that boy of mine.’

There was something wistful and sad in Sean’s tone, but he rallied quickly, with rather forced good cheer. ‘Well, I’d best be getting home. Drive safe, love.’

‘You too. Chat in the morning.’