‘Papers lie.’ She stops peeling squares of plastic cheese from plastic wrappers and stares at me. ‘How do you do it?’

‘Do what?’

‘Kill someone? How do you do that and not feel anything? I haven’t slept a full night since it happened. Why can’t I be as nonchalant as you are?’

‘Because you’re not supposed to be,’ I say. ‘I killed because my brain is wired up all wrong. I killed because I liked it.’

‘Liked? Past tense? You’ve stopped?’

‘Well, I think I’m in what psychologists call the “period of de-escalation”.’

‘How long does that last?’

‘No idea. I’m happy though. And I’m letting that be enough for now. How come you’re not in prison for my murder?’

‘We’ve entered a self-defence plea because the woman – you – had been hounding us so much.’

‘I had?’

‘Several times over the past year. She’d been violent. Followed my kids to school. Tried to take Mabli coming out of a dance class. She broke in and stole my purse, all my cards. Found out where Cody worked, stalked him. Sent threatening notes. All she wanted was you.’

‘Nightmare,’ I say.

‘A living Hell,’ she smiles, but her eyes don’t. She tries to tug open the bread bag. ‘And now you’re here.’

It’s the most she’s said so far, and it says everything. ‘Did you know it was her when you shot her?’

‘Of course I did,’ she spat.

‘So why did you do it?’

She sighs, deep into her chest. ‘I guess I snapped. I thought it would get rid of you for good. Didn’t fucking work though, did it?’

‘How is killing a perfect stranger going to get rid of me?’

She throws down the bread bag, unable to get her fumbling fingers to twist off the plastic tie. I reach across and open it – her hand moves towards the gun. I remove two slices of bread, throw them towards her, and tie up the bag. I sit back down.

‘My life for the past year has been on hold, waiting for this day. Waiting for you to come here and finish me off. I don’t sleep anymore – I doze and I wake with up with heart palpitations. I don’t work, I can’t work. I’m on anxiety medication. I’ve driven my husband away, my kids’ll be next cos I snap at them all the time. And it’s all because of you.’

‘You don’t sound anxious now. You sound… angry.’

‘That’s because I am. The fear of you has always been bigger than you. And now you’re here, I can see you’re just… a woman. A woman who doesn’t even look like my sister anymore. You’ve lost those lines between your eyes and you’re not scowling. It’s weird… this is the calmest I’ve felt in a long time.’