She might have done it. She really might have. Except suddenly Lucy took her hand and squeezed it.

‘Sorry, Kitty.’

‘Why are you sorry?’

‘For being scared. It’s just, I promised my da, you know?’

Fuck him, Kitty wanted to say. But she knew how bad it was to say that word and she didn’t want to upset Lucy, after all. Because Lucy was her best friend and she was holding her hand tight, like she really loved Kitty. And Kitty knew that she loved Lucy too.

‘It’s okay,’ she said.

‘No.’ Lucy shook her head, her mouth set in a straight line. ‘We should do it. They’re knocking it down in a few weeks. This will be our last chance.’

‘Really?’ Kitty looked at her friend carefully, checking her face to make sure she wasn’t joking.

‘Yep.’ Lucy smiled. ‘You can come here and say you’re having a sleepover. Then, after my parents are in bed, we’ll sneak out. We’ll get some sweets and cake in the shop during the day. We can have a midnight feast like they do in Mallory Towers. It’ll be great.’

‘What about Martin Coyne’s ghost?’

‘That ould fella?’ Lucy grinned. ‘Sure we both know he doesn’t really exist, right?’

Kitty smiled, even though everyone knew the ghost was real. Even Mr O’Brien said he he’d seen Martin’s ghost wandering around upstairs when he was at the house last week. Mr O’Brien owned the huge house that had once belonged to the Coyne family. He’d bought it ‘for a song’ according to Kitty’s mother. She would know. As well as having sex with him, she also worked as his PA, which meant she organised all his meetings and things. Mum said he’d bought the house as an investment. He was going to knock it down and build modern houses on the land.

But before it was knocked down, Kitty’s mother and Mr O’Brien went to the house when they wanted to have sex. And now Kitty and Lucy were going too. Friday night, when Mum and Mr O’Brien were going to be there. Kitty had heard her mother on the phone, arranging the whole thing.

‘Nine o’clock,’ her mother had said. ‘All you need to do is turn up. You really need to stop worrying, Robert. It’s all in hand. No one will ever find out.’

Well she was wrong about that. Kitty already knew. And soon, everyone else would know too.

‘Are you okay, Kit?’ Lucy asked.

‘I’m fine.’ It was a lie, but she couldn’t tell Lucy about yesterday. Or all the other times when her mother’s anger and mood swings made life at home seem like an unbearable nightmare.

She’d finished the last of the milk, forgetting her mother liked milk in her tea.