‘Oh, and you want me to go first, right? Confession time, is it? “Come on, dear, tell the nice police officer everything you know. How about the names and addresses of all your friends for a start?” Di, you’re just not getting it, are you?’

Diane didn’t answer. Second by second, she was watching their relationship turn round, seeing her big sister become more and more uneasy in her presence, like a guilty child. For the first time in her life, Diane felt as though she was the one with the power. In some way, she had the ability to affect Angie’s life, instead of the other way about. She knew this, but she didn’t understand why. And the knowledge didn’t make her feel any better.

Angie looked at her uncertainly, pulling on her jacket. ‘I’m off to work, then.’

‘You can’t escape for ever. We’ll have to sort things out between us some time soon.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.’

As she watched Angie sneak towards the door, Diane found herself torn by conflicting impulses – a desire to bring her sister closer, but the urge to hurt her at the same time.

‘There’s one thing you’re just not getting either, Angie,’ she said.

‘Tell me about it some other time.’

Then her sister had slipped out of the room, and her feet were clattering on the stairs as she ran towards the front door.

Diane stood at the top of the stairs, unable to control something inside her that refused to let go of the argument.

‘And why did you go to Ben Cooper?’ she shouted. ‘Right at the beginning, why did you go to him?’

Angie stopped, but only to shout back. ‘Because he cares about people.’

‘Oh, yes? Well, I care about people, too. I just don’t care about you.’

As soon as the front door slammed, Diane had begun to regret her last words. But it was too late by then.

She glared at one of the students from the next flat, who’d stuck her head round the corner to see what was going on. As the student disappeared, Diane wondered whether she might ever get another chance to tell Angie what it was that she just wasn’t getting.

Diane went back into the flat and began to pick up the cushions that had been knocked on the floor. She was surprised by how much mess there was, almost as if the place had been broken into and ransacked. If it had been a crime scene she was visiting, she would have said there was evidence of a violent altercation.