“It was lucky that Hugh left the school that very day.”

“And the other one — did you call him Tony?”

“Antonio Silva. Tonio for short. Don’t worry about him. He’s from my country. He’ll do as I tell him.”

“How can you be sure?”

“He knows that if he gets me into trouble, his family will suffer back home.”

There was something chilling in the boy’s voice as he said this, and Augusta shivered.

“May I fetch you a shawl?” Micky said attentively.

Augusta shook her head. “No other boys saw what happened?”

Micky frowned. “There was another boy swimming in the pool when we got there.”

“Who?”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t see his face, and I didn’t know it was going to be important.”

“Did he see what happened?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure at what point he left.”

“But he had gone by the time you got the body out of the water.”

“Yes.”

“I wish we knew who it was,” Augusta said anxiously.

“He may not even have been a schoolboy,” Micky pointed out. “He could be from the town. Anyway, for whatever reason, he hasn’t come forward as a witness, so I suppose he’s no danger to us.”

No danger to us. It struck Augusta that she was involved with this boy in something dishonest, possibly illegal. She did not like the situation. She had got into it without realizing, and now she was trapped. She looked hard at him and said: “What do you want?”

She caught him off guard for the first time. Looking bewildered, he said: “What do you mean?”

“You covered up for my son. You committed perjury today.” He was unbalanced by her directness, she saw. That pleased her: she was in control again. “I don’t believe you took such a risk out of the goodness of your heart. I think you want something in return. Why don’t you just tell me what it is?”