‘Yes, you did. I have the transcript here, right in front of me.’ She takes the file from Mullins again and opens it up, looking at the page before glancing back at me. She must see how shocked I am, the blood draining from my face. Surely she’s questioning if I am in fact telling the truth.

‘It’s from your number, Faye. You arranged to meet Avril Ryan at Huntley Lodge.’

My mouth is gaping open. This can’t be true. What is going on? My vision blurs. I rub my eyes.

‘No,’ I say. ‘I didn’t! I never sent Avril Ryan a message.’

Did I? Lots of things in my past are vague but surely I’d remember that. I look at Mullins then back to Lee.

‘I didn’t arrange to meet Avril Ryan. I never saw that woman in my life. I never saw that text message either.’

Chapter Fifty-Seven

‘Faye… Faye…’ someone is pushing my shoulder. I open my eyes and see Aoife standing there. Her soft blue eyes are open wide and staring down at me.

‘What happened? Are you alright?’ she says, sitting on her bed opposite me. ‘I saw her in there, but it was too late to do anything.’

‘What?’ I open my eyes fully and sit up in the bed. ‘You saw who?’ My head is still muzzy and my mouth dry. I lift a bottle of water from my bedside cabinet and empty it in one go. It’s like a cold shower washing through my body, making me more alert. I’m in my room. Aoife is talking to me. Oh fuck, the cops were here. I close my eyes again and rest my head back down on the pillow.

‘You should have told me, Faye. I could have said it was mine but it all happened so quickly, I…’

What is she talking about?

‘Or I could have given a sample for you. I could have left it in the bag early Monday morning before you came back and then they wouldn’t have discovered it was stale urine.’

Oh Christ, she’s talking about the urine sample. Aoife isn’t aware that my tragic story of trouble and strife has moved onto the next chapter. What I wouldn’t give for a bag of pee to be my problem now.

‘It’s okay Aoife, it doesn’t matter now.’

‘But I would have,’ she says.

It strikes me as funny how open to deception people in here are willing to be.

‘Well, you would have been wrong, Aoife, believe you me. Take my advice. I’m learning the hard way. Toe the line in here, Aoife, get it over with as soon as you can. I’m back to the start now, no privileges, not even my phone.’

Aoife jumps off the bed and pulls her phone from under the mattress.