It felt as if they were hunkering down amid a storm. Outside was the world of darkness, death, police, the winds of fear and suspicion and distrust. Inside: the strange stillness of the eye of the storm, peace, suspension from time.

With a fire lit, and candles, summer seemed long ago. They relied on Lucy for much of the early conversation, she was able to relate small and innocuous details about Amanda's family's movements that day, such as how long the police had spent with them, and what train they had returned on.

Cade said barely anything throughout the meal. Jayne could manage little more. Aubrey did his best. In the end the obvious thing was to acknowledge the tension.

"I'm quite sure this will go down in memory for all of us as the most joyless meal we have ever...

Please subscribe to keep reading.