At first Megan looks terrified that something awful has happened, but when the police reveal it is just a missing person report, Megan begins to relax a little. “I thought you were going to tell me that Leah had died,” she says softly. Officer Milly apologizes for the misunderstanding and the two women chat for a while about mundane crap I have no time for.

“So, you and Leah aren’t close?” Officer Milly asks as she deposits yet more tea in front of Megan.

“No, not really,” Megan replies with a wan smile. “Families can be kind of difficult.”

“Tell me about it,” Officer Milly confides. “I have a brother…” She rolls her eyes and Megan offers up a false polite laugh. “Sorry.” She clears her throat. “So, when did you last see her?”

“Probably six months ago or so. Before Christmas.” The lie is so smooth, she almost convinces me too.

“Did you know her friends?”

“Some. But only those from the olden days, you know, school and where we grew up.”

“Which was where?”

“Wiltshire. Salisbury—well just outside, really. My father was in the army, he was stationed there. Or at least that was what we thought, anyway.”

The real Patterson curse is not one of memory loss and paranoia and make-believe. It is actually a curious desire to spill the deepest secrets of one’s life to every stranger in the street. Megan told me once she does it to pre-empt the fact that they will have read the book, or seen the film adaptation, or the million and one other ways that Leah had monetised their misery. But I actually think she was always like this. Leah was similar. Zero filter, with anyone, least of all with those she met only fleetingly, like barmen and air stewards. I had been to the bathroom in a restaurant once and came back to find Leah telling the wide-eyed waitress a story about a wealthy sheikh who liked to serve his guests their dinner laid out on the bodies of someone their guest had preselected from a catalog. It was not clear from the story if Leah was a diner or the serving platter, and she reveled in the ambiguity.

“Do you think any of them, those friends from your youth, would want to hurt Leah?” Officer Milly asks this carefully and I watch Megan’s reaction closely.

“You—” Her voice catches and her eyes dart to mine for support. Support that I provide with an outstretched hand and concerned expression. “Do you think someone hurt her? I thought we were just trying to find her?”

“Well, we can’t rule anything out right now.”

“But… but… I thought she was just missing, you know, like she’s gone away and not told anyone. Like she did when we were kids.”

“She has a history of running away?”

Megan nods. “That was what she did whenever things got a bit difficult. She’d always turn up though. A few hours later when we were really little, then she’d be gone a bit longer the older we got. I used to pretend to be her so she wouldn’t get into trouble. I’d keep running up and down the stairs changing between my clothes and hers so my parents would think we were both at home. I managed to convince them for a whole weekend once, although it had been a bit touch and go at dinner.”