‘Why it was so important to Sam to break up his best friend’s marriage.’

‘Maybe he thought he’d be doing Gordon a favour.’

‘Well, that would be consistent with Sam’s attitude to me, so yes. I just don’t get why he would want to hurt Gordon and Ben. I mean, who made him God?’

‘He’s a fireman.’

Kelly thought: Girl, you really don’t know shit about these men.

‘Of course, Dog never had a clue. He just told me to ignore Tony, no-one would listen to him, and Sam wouldn’t follow through. Dog had to take Sally home—Tony wasn’t the only person at the party who was legless. So it was left to me. Sam was dead serious. Dog was wrong there. Sam gave me the chance to confess or else he’d tell Gordon. I had to show courage. And what the hell. I understood that there would be no point to what I had done unless I told Gordon.’

She had made her confession to Gordon while they were alone at the end of the party, companionably cleaning up.

‘I felt relieved to have it out there.’

‘Really?’

‘I just thought at last someone had done something. Have you ever had that feeling? No, of course not. It’s like a vice has been tightening millimetre by millimetre, year after year, since the beginning of time, and if you don’t do something your head will explode. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as it’s something.’

‘I don’t know.’ Lou was shaking her head. ‘You had an okay marriage. Do people your age really split up because someone’s rooted someone else? Aren’t you a bit beyond that?’

‘This is what I’m trying to tell you. Marriage to Gordon was killing me.’

‘But to sleep with Dog to end your marriage? It’s like suicide by cop.’

‘Divorce by Dog.’

Still under the influence of the coke, she had hoped to explain it all, rationally, to Gordon, and find common ground. Surely he had been feeling the same oppression in their marriage? But she had miscalculated. Her satisfaction in confessing only lasted until she saw the collapse of Gordon’s face. He had not responded as she’d hoped. He spent the night at the firehouse. When the coke wore off, she realised she had mistaken nostalgia for vindication.

‘Fireman to the rescue,’ Lou said.

‘Sam and Gordon have a … unique history together.’

‘I’m sure they do.’

You don’t know the tiniest fraction of it, Kelly thought.