The next few questions pass in a blur. Someone mentions sex on a bench, someone else says the word ‘anal’ and then everyone falls around laughing when Phoenix says something about naughty thoughts about Tom. Fran’s desperate for a glass of water but the sink is too far away and she hasn’t got the energy to get up so she sips at her wine instead. She wants to go to bed. It’s noisy in the living room and every time she announces that she’s tired everyone starts laughing. ‘That’s three times now.’ ‘Four!’ ‘Seven.’ ‘I think she’s tired, everyone!’

‘I have never …’ Caroline’s East London tones cut through the noise. ‘Hit someone.’

Fran rests a hand on the arm of the sofa and grips it, trying to anchor herself, but the room continues to spin.

‘You hit someone?’ she hears someone say, then Damian’s bass reply, ‘Aye, and they asked for it, too.’

‘Geri?’ Caroline says. ‘Geri? Are you still with us? It’s your turn.’

Fran rests her head on the sofa back and surveys the room, her eyes half closed. She hears the stress on the words ‘your turn’ and a thought crawls out of the thick fog in her brain. Jenna, that’s why she’s doing this. That’s why she’s so drunk. Someone in this room knows what happened to her sister. Her stomach lurches again as she forces herself to sit upright. She looks from Phoenix to Renata to Damian. They’re all looking at her expectantly, smiles playing on their mouths.

‘I have never …’ Fran pauses to take a sip of her wine then looks at her glass in surprise. It’s empty. ‘I have never …’ she says again, her head moving like a lead weight on a spring. She squints. She needs to see the Gozo three’s expressions when she finishes her statement. ‘I have never … seen a dead body.’

No one answers, but there’s a sea change in the room. She feels the weight of it pressing down on her and the air feels thick and cloying. Damian’s eyes burn into her. Renata stares at the carpet. Phoenix’s smile droops and then vanishes. Even as drunk as she is, Fran can sense the guilt and regret. One of them knows. They saw Jenna’s body. They were there.

Damian lifts his glass of water to his mouth and sips. Renata, head bowed, does the same with her gin. Phoenix knocks back his cider and cradles the empty glass in his hand.