I didn’t bother to argue. But I wasn’t about to let Violet down.

I pushed open the door to my room, coffee in hand, and was surprised to see Fiona and Craig in the corner by the window. Fiona was leaning against the wall and Craig was looming over her. I heard him tell her, ‘Stop saying I’m cheating on my wife. It’s not true.’

‘Okay.’ I stuck my coffee on my desk. ‘What’s going on and why are you in my room?’

They turned and looked at me with the expressions of dogs caught digging up the flower beds.

‘We’ve all been covering Craig’s fat arse with his wife,’ Fiona snapped. ‘And I’m sick of it.’

Craig spun round to look at her. ‘Shut the fuck up. You don’t know anything about me.’

I sighed and sat down at my desk.

Fiona narrowed her eyes, and I got a sense of the strength that lay under that amenable exterior. ‘I know what I saw,’ she said. ‘I know you lied.’

Craig advanced on me, approaching belly-first. ‘She’s got it all wrong.’

I wanted to leave them to their stupid row. To go and see what Bex knew and find out more about Kirsty. I had a very bad feeling about Kirsty. I didn’t know how it related to Violet and I couldn’t justify any of it to Richard, but even though I’d been wrong about my dad and Daniel, my hunches had a pretty good track record. I was determined to pursue this one.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘You need to explain now or drop this forever, because we’re all sick to death of it.’

‘I don’t like to see women being cheated on.’ Fiona crossed her arms.

Craig lurched forward and slammed his hand on my desk. ‘I’m not fucking cheating on my wife.’

My ex had been like this, and to some extent, so had my dad. Those moments of almost-violence. Not touching me but using his physicality, so it was virtually impossible not to shrink in on myself – to grow smaller and take up less space. I wasn’t putting up with it from Craig. ‘Get your hand off my desk and sit down in that chair,’ I said.

Craig angrily did as he was told. I half-hoped this would be the day my guest chair finally collapsed, but it held firm.

Fiona shifted round so she could look at Craig.

I felt like teacher.

‘Just tell her,’ Craig said. ‘And then I’ll explain how nosy cows can be wrong.’