My mind is shredded. I can’t think, or focus. I know the game is over if I give Turner the cell phone and while I should be happy about that, I’m not. The truth, staring me in the face, is not what I want the truth to be. I don’t want Danny to have murdered Katie Collins. So I’m searching for reason after reason for this not to be the case. Like, what if he didn’t meet Katie to kill her? Katie may already have been dead before he had a chance to meet her? It’s possible, she could have collided with some mad psycho who was at Treehill Park that same night. As soon as this day is over, as soon as Nancy Wall is laid to rest, I’m going to confront him.

The black suit hangs on my father like it’s still on the hanger. The man has almost disappeared, his skin a mere coat of paint covering his bones. Outside the church grounds with Dad’s arm around my shoulder, I listen to his cries as the coffin is lifted out of the funeral car. His body trembles by my side as I hug him tightly. ‘It’ll be okay, Dad. She’s in a better place.’

I think about these words. Ready-made phrases that sound like they were rented from Hallmark. ‘She’s no longer in pain.’ ‘She’s had a good life.’ How does anyone know that she’s in a better place? That woman could be in hell right now.

The crowd follow us up the aisle as we take our place in the front row, Danny on my left, Dad on my right. I don’t feel like I’m here, not really, it’s like I’m in a play or something, detached from it all and yet pulling off a great performance.

The priest performs his role to perfection too, leading us all back down the aisle having convinced us that it’s all part of God’s great plan. ‘Nearer My God, to Thee’ rings out from the balcony above. When we get outside a gust of wind shakes the trees circling the churchyard. But I don’t feel it. My body is numb; none of this is really happening.

I shake a few more hands, shed a few more tears, and wait. It will be all over soon, this pretense. The truth is only a few hours away. Dad will know what happened while he was away with the army, and Danny will have to admit if he killed Katie Collins. There’s no way out for him. I have the phone. Which I hope has the fingerprints.