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right.’ Hannah nodded. ‘Good to see you again, Louise.’
    She was conscious of her host’s scrutiny. It made her feel like a courtroom exhibit, or an ill-drafted codicil to a miser’s last will and testament. Her cheeks burnt, though surely it was ludicrous to be embarrassed by meeting the sister of Daniel Kind.
    ‘Must circulate.’ Stuart Wagg gave Louise a nod of dismissal. ‘See you later.’
    ‘So, you and Stuart are together?’ Hannah asked when he was out of earshot.
    ‘Sort of.’ Louise fingered the necklace in an abstracted manner. A Christmas present from Stuart, no doubt. He’d probably just walked into the jeweller’s and asked for thepriciest necklace in the shop. ‘It’s a very recent thing. We met at a legal conference. You might remember, I used to lecture in Manchester. I’ve only just arrived up here.’
    ‘You’ve moved in?’
    ‘Mmmm…’ An evasive smile. ‘Let’s say, it’s too far to commute with comfort and I didn’t only want to be a weekend visitor. We’ve just spent our first Christmas together, and I feel extra lucky. I start a brand-new job at the University of South Lakeland next term.’
    ‘Congratulations.’
    ‘Well…let’s see how things turn out.’ Louise fiddled with her bracelet. ‘How come you know Stuart?’
    ‘My partner Marc owns a second-hand bookshop.’ Hannah caught sight of him on the other side of the room, accepting the waitress’s offer to replenish his glass of champagne with a broad grin. ‘Stuart’s one of his best customers.’
    Louise tapped the side of her head. ‘Doh! I should have made the connection. See, I never inherited those detective skills.’
    It was on the tip of Hannah’s tongue to say: Not like Daniel . But she didn’t want to be the first to speak his name.
    ‘Your father taught me all I know about detective work.’
    ‘He’d have been proud of your success. Head of the Cold Case Review Team? A top job.’
    ‘It’s a backwater,’ Hannah said. ‘I was steered into it after I messed up on a case, and I haven’t managed to worm my way out of it.’
    ‘But you enjoy being a detective.’ A statement, not a question. ‘Daniel was sure you did.’
    Hannah clenched her fist, as if she’d scored a goal. Louise had mentioned him first.
    ‘He was right. I was always ambitious. Driven, your father said.’
    ‘Like Daniel,’ Louise said. ‘Or at least like Daniel used to be.’
    ‘Has he changed?’
    ‘You know his partner Aimee died?’
    Hannah nodded. Aimee was the journalist Miranda’s predecessor; she and Daniel had been together when he worked in Oxford and built a lucrative career writing history books and adapting them for television. By the sound of things, Aimee had been a flake, and in the end she committed suicide. After that, Daniel wanted a complete break, and as soon as he met Miranda, he’d abandoned the dreaming spires for the Lake District. The cottage in Brackdale became his bolt-hole, until Miranda went back home to London, and left him with fresh wounds to lick.
    ‘It must have been very hard for him.’
    ‘Aimee’s death put his career into perspective. But you can’t mourn for ever. I want to see that old hunger in him again.’
    ‘People don’t really change.’ As she spoke, Hannah realised she believed this, with a passion. ‘Not in fundamentals.’
    ‘If you’re right, those cold cases should fire your own enthusiasm.’
    ‘At least they give me the chance to be a detective again. Your father warned me, the higher I climbed, the further away from real police work I’d find myself. The upper echelons are for political movers and shakers. Not people who simply want to solve crimes.’
    ‘I remember Dad saying that,’ Louise murmured. ‘Before he left us for his fancy woman.’
    ‘It must have been tough for you when Ben left home.’
    ‘For all of us. Daniel, me, our mother.’ Louise sighed. ‘It’s history now. As much in the past as the stuff Daniel studies.’
    Hannah