‘You had reason to,’ I say. My hands tremble behind me and I tell myself he won’t harm me while Ruth’s upstairs, though she’s been covering up for him for years.

My eyes flick to the front door, an action that seems to amuse him, but I’m certain I could outrun him if I need to.

‘You think I’m the only one with a motive?’ he asks. ‘I imagine you’ve already worked out someone else had one too, only you don’t like the thought of that.’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’ The words tumble out of my mouth.

Bob laughs again. ‘It was your parents who were freaked by her arrival, not me. Though I think you already know that.’

I bite my lip, willing my heart to stop hammering.

Bob presses his fists to his mouth and then splays his hands flat against the table as he considers his best option. ‘You see, whatever I might have done, I only agreed because your parents had set a precedent. I assume you know Bonnie isn’t actually your real sister?’

The air around me stills.

‘Iona knew that but she didn’t have a clue about Jill,’ he goes on as if he hasn’t just told me the one thing that has split my world in two.

My ears buzz and I shake my head, trying to stop the noise so I can focus on what he’s telling me, but the room is beginning to spin and I feel like I might throw up.

‘It was your parents whose exposure was being threatened, not mine,’ he is saying, ‘so I had no reason to kill her, did I?’

‘Of course you did.’ My words sound foreign, hazy, like they don’t belong to me.

‘Your parents were determined that girl was going to ruin their lives. So, you think you can come here and get your brother off the hook because he’s innocent? Well, he probably is,’ Bob leers, leaning back in his chair like he’s played his trump card. ‘But I’m not your killer.’

His eyes bore into me as he leans forward until his face is only inches from mine. I smell sweat, and stale onion on his breath, and automatically pull back, trying to find my footing as I edge myself out of the chair.

‘I told you before you shouldn’t be here, digging around. You were never going to like what you found.’

‘I know you sent me the threats,’ I say.

‘Threats?’ He screws his face up.

‘The notes you’ve been leaving me. I’ve taken the first one to the police. They’ll know you’ve got something to hide, so there’s no point trying to put this on my parents.’

Bob laughs. ‘I can honestly say I have no idea what you’re talking about.’