“Would you call her?” I asked Samantha.

“Not to arrange another surprise.

Just ask if she will speak to me with you here.”

Samantha called Patricia on speakerphone.

The woman who answered had a low, measured voice, much gentler than I expected from Gavin’s description of his difficult aunt.

“Claire,” she said, “I have wanted to explain this for years.

I did not know if it would comfort you or make your life harder.”

“Before you explain anything,” I told her, “I need to know whether Brenda knows about you and Madeline.”