‘I think I’m going to be sick.’

‘Is it the whiskey? It’s not the best brand …’

No, it’s not the whiskey. Christ.

‘It all came out then. There was no way to hide her body from him, and any explanation we could have conjured up was worse than the truth, to be honest. So Ines told him everything. He drank half a bottle of vodka, told her to be gone by morning, got into his car, and that was that.’

‘He drove off a bridge.’

She shrugs. ‘Honestly, I don’t know if it was the vodka or the storm. Roofs blew off houses that night, trees down everywhere. It might just have been the storm.’

‘Or it might have been the discovery that his wife was a monster.’ The words slur slightly.

‘Oh Joanna, have another drink and get over yourself.’

She gets up to go into the kitchen for another bottle. The clattering of glass and the opening and closing of cupboards lulls me into a stupor and seems to go on for a lot longer than it should. Maybe she doesn’t want to tell me any more. When she eventually arrives with a fresh bottle, I shake my head but accept the drink anyway.

‘Tell me the rest.’

‘I’m sure you can work it out – when you asked Cora if she’d ever heard Lily called “Lila”, it rang a bell. She remembered her mother saying, “Lila was well looked after by Cynthia,” and wondered if this was all tied up with Lily’s disappearance. She was adamant she wanted to prove her father’s innocence.’

‘How did she find you?’

‘Easy, unfortunately. Google “Cynthia Kirk” and my address is there in the reports on my court appearances.’ She shakes her head. ‘There she was, banging on my door till I gave in and opened it. Little Cora O’Brien, all grown up, demanding answers.’

‘And?’

‘She laid it all out – your questions, the overheard conversation between her parents – and then she accused me of kidnapping Lily Murphy.’ A laugh. ‘What the fuck would I want with kidnapping a child?’

‘So what did you tell her?’

‘That she was wrong. That Lila was someone else. I didn’t tell her Lila was her sister.’ A self-satisfied nod. ‘She was adamant though. Kept insisting she knew I’d done something, that she was going to the police. I got worried then. I don’t know how these things work – statute of limitations or whatever. I could still get done for Lila’s death, even though it was technically you. And the illegal burial. Or even taking Lila, since I have no way to prove it was agreed with Ines.’ She pauses and smiles. ‘Also, Cora was bugging the shit out of me. I had enough.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I followed her on Friday morning. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do, but it was ridiculously easy in the end. Those train station platforms get so crowded at rush hour. A well-timed shove was all it took. Nobody was going to suspect the nice lady with the dreamy smile and the hippie hair.’