She felt better after running things through in her mind. When Millie went for her lunchtime nap, Grace made herself a sandwich and brought the rest of the papers down from her bedroom to read at the small dining table. There were more letters in Rachel’s handwriting, and she leafed through them. They looked to be newsy – no mention of Jonny, though some lovely references to Adam as a baby which made her nostalgic for Millie’s early days back in London. She bundled all of them up together. She would take them with her as keepsakes for Millie.

As she picked up the final envelope, she found a stack of notes underneath, in handwriting she hadn’t seen before. They were written on identical sheets of white notepad paper, folded in half.

She picked up the first one.

If you go, I will die.

Grace was stunned. Quickly, she found the next one.

I can’t bear the thought of being apart from you. Please don’t go. We can work this out, whatever our parents say. I love you.

Jonny

Grace put it down and picked up another.

I love you.

Then another.

Don’t leave me.

And the last one.

Don’t make me hate you forever.

Grace frowned. In the accounts she had heard so far, it was always Jonny who had abandoned Rachel – but these notes told a totally different story. One with an unsettling undertone.

She wished now that she hadn’t jumbled up the contents in the boxes from the cellar by tipping them onto her bed together. If she’d gone through them one at a time, she would have known exactly which box these had come from, and what else had been in there. She was curious as to whether Adam knew about these notes. Surely if he’d read them he would reconsider what he knew of his father – and want to find him in order to learn the full story.

She fervently hoped Niall could uncover more information about Jonny. She was convinced that he was somehow important.

She couldn’t settle to looking through the more mundane papers after this. Instead, she went upstairs and grabbed the dog-eared copy of Rebecca, then lay down on the bed and tried to immerse herself in it. Soon she was engrossed, and she was just reaching the end of a chapter when Millie woke and began to call out to her. Maxim de Winter had faced his wife with the truth, and as Grace got up and hurried to her daughter, his final question still rang in her ears.

‘Will you look into my eyes, and tell me that you love me now?’

Grace had expected to spend the whole of New Year’s Eve with only Millie for company, but in the afternoon Emma called around with a request. ‘My sister’s having a church jumble sale tomorrow, and she’s tearing her hair out trying to get enough donations. All the money goes to the homeless. You don’t have anything she can sell, do you?’

‘Are you kidding?’ Grace replied, stepping back so Emma could see the boxes stacked up in the hallway behind her.

They filled Emma’s car with as much as it could hold, and Emma looked longingly at what was left behind.

‘It’s such a shame to leave it, but we’re staying over in Ockton tonight for New Year, and I’m helping her set up the sale first thing. I should have thought about this earlier.’ Her shoulders slumped regretfully.

‘Well, I could bring these to Ockton for you, if you like,’ Grace offered.

‘Oh, don’t you worry,’ Emma said hastily. ‘There’s no need to go to any bother.’

But Grace was thinking of Jonny. She had a burgeoning desire to see the farm at Gilldale for herself, and Ockton was only a few miles further. ‘I’d be happy to,’ she insisted. ‘Just give me directions.’

Emma’s face brightened. ‘Well, that’s ever so kind of you! My sister will be thrilled. If you’ve got a paper and pen handy, I’ll draw you a map.’

As they finished and Grace closed the door, she surveyed the half-empty hallway. This had been a stroke of luck for her as well as for Emma’s sister. Tomorrow this area would be clear again. It was amazing how the knowledge made her mind feel so much lighter.

As she walked into the lounge and looked around, she felt a fresh impetus to clear out as much as she could today. Most of the contents of the china cabinet could go to tomorrow’s sale, not to mention the extra table linen. She grabbed a few empty boxes from the hall and began to pull things out of drawers and pack them up. It was satisfying work, and she was stacking yet another full box in the hallway when she heard someone crunching down the garden path.

She opened the door to see Claire standing there. ‘Ben told me that your guests have gone, so I decided to pop round and see how you are.’

Grace was touched by Claire’s thoughtfulness. ‘Come in. Would you like a hot drink?’

‘A tea would be great, thanks.’

They went through to the lounge. Claire took a seat and began talking to Millie while Grace boiled the kettle.

When their mugs were on the table, Claire asked, ‘So, what are you doing for New Year tonight?’

‘Not a lot,’ Grace admitted. She had been half-hoping that Ben would come and find her to suggest they spent it together. Since he hadn’t, there weren’t many other options.

‘Would you like to come up to the schoolhouse? All my sisters will be there, we usually have a bit of a get-together. It isn’t right to see it in alone …’

Grace wasn’t keen to spend an evening outnumbered by Meredith and her family. However, she realised that it might give her the opportunity to speak to Liza again, and persuade her to talk to the police.

Before she could reply, Claire leaned forward.

‘Actually, I have to confess, I’m hoping that Ben might come too if he knows you’ll be there …’

Grace coughed as a large gulp of hot tea hit her throat unexpectedly fast. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘Well, he seems to think a lot of you. And I’m willing to try anything, to be honest. I am so sick of him skulking up there in that house, and Mum sitting in her castle … and never the twain shall meet. It’s ridiculous, they’re as bad as each other. If I’d known how this was going to pan out I wouldn’t have suggested he came back …’

Grace put down her mug. ‘I don’t know much about it. He’s only said that he had a big falling out with your parents and they’ve been estranged for years.’

‘Well, I bet he didn’t mention how much grief he caused Mum and Dad when he was younger – he was quite the tear-away for a while … Perhaps he was sick of being stuck out here with a load of teenage girls – it can’t have been easy. He crashed Dad’s car into the pub one night after he’d had too much to drink … lost control and it skidded right down the hill.’

‘So is that why he’s still barred?’ Grace asked. ‘I saw him getting thrown out.’

Claire smiled. ‘Len and Joyce think “yance a bad egg, allas a bad egg” – as do most people round here. They probably don’t realise how much time has passed. Once Ben got his reputation it was always going to be difficult for him to shake it off. Moving away was probably his only option – but then he set our house on fire …’