‘No, I don’t at all.’ There was sudden quiet. The tape clicked off. ‘But we’d better get hold of Krish tomorrow.’

‘I’m not sure I ever want to see him again – or her, for that matter.’

‘I think you’ll have to.’ Jake spoke gently but emphatically. ‘Look, Anna, I don’t know all the background to this as you obviously do, but I do know a lot about Krish. I didn’t explain properly last time we talked. Your coming here has lifted the lid off something for them and it’s him that’s going to get the full rush of it. I know he shouldn’t have behaved the way he did tonight, but you have to understand the kind of hold Olivia has on him. She’s never let him out of her sight hardly, apart from school when she had to. But she wouldn’t let him go out or have friends – let alone a relationship with a woman – God forbid. Anything that’s started she’s destroyed one way or another. She interferes in every part of his life. Possessive isn’t a strong enough word to describe it.’

Anna frowned. ‘But he’s left home, hasn’t he?’

Jake gave an ironic laugh. ‘He’s done three terms in London. During the summer before he went he overdosed because she made him feel so guilty about going. He was in hospital for three days.’

‘But you said she wanted him to go – appealed to the university?’

‘She did. But that’s Olivia for you, isn’t it? Nothing ever goes one way with her. Even in London she completely dominates his life. He has to phone every day, come home every other weekend. And there’s barely a weekend in between when she’s not down there. He’s not allowed to see anyone else when she goes down. He has to devote his time to her. And if he doesn’t ring there are tears, threats – the whole works, turning on the guilt. If she thought he was going out with anyone . . . well, it’s almost unthinkable. I think he almost believes she can see into his mind. That if he was seeing anyone, she’d know, somehow.’

Anna listened, feeling forgiveness for Krish before Jake had even finished speaking. ‘I can’t imagine how he’s coped this long,’ she said. ‘She’s so terrible . . .’ Her voice trailed off. ‘But she does make you love her, doesn’t she?’

‘Better not to, I think.’

‘She let Krish come and work for you. She must trust you.’

‘I think I was partly to distract him from other things at the time. But we get on all right, me and Olivia. She knows I’m not going to be drawn into anything. She trusts me with Krish – like a sort of old uncle figure.’ He shrugged, then looked at her seriously. ‘And you know her because she was your mother’s best friend who tried to do away with her baby?’

Anna shook her head. ‘Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? But it was my fairy story when I was little. “Tell me about you and Olivia when you were little girls.” Bosom pals, complete devotion and all that. The stuff she left me to read telling me the truth about what happened was awful. She’d bring out all the good bits for me when I was a child. It was like – some mothers keep their jewellery box as a special thing to show their kids. All the shiny things inside. But with her it was Olivia.’ She was crying suddenly, sobbing until she could barely catch her breath.