Here was something else I had taken for granted about my new life. That whenever Alex saw me he would smile, his eyes boring into me in a way that made me lose all control of myself. No smile today. When he opened the door all I got was a frown, a clouding of the blue eyes I loved so much. I could hear the TV on in the background, the evening news.

‘Hi,’ I said, voice sticking in my throat.

‘We really shouldn’t be talking, you know. Did the police not tell you that?’

‘But we have to, Alex! I know what happened, when you were younger. Stacey.’

Saying her name felt wrong. The names of the dead should be spoken with care, with reverence. Especially those whose lives were brutally snatched away from them.

He flinched. ‘I didn’t do it. I was acquitted.’

‘I know, but we’re in the same boat, don’t you see? We were both accused of something we didn’t do, as teenagers. Maybe it’s you being framed, not me. I don’t know! But we have to at least talk!’

He stood back and let me in. In the kitchen, he leaned against the sink. I noticed how dirty it was, toys and dishes everywhere. I wondered where Sam was – in bed already, maybe.

He said, ‘So? Talk.’ Alex was like a different person with me now. I thought of the last time I’d seen him before all this, the day before Anna died. How he’d cupped my face to kiss me, stared into my eyes. ‘You want me to explain myself, is that it? Why I didn’t tell you?’

‘No, Alex – I just think we need to at least be honest with each other. The day before Anna’s murder, you left mine at ten, right?’ A late start for him.

‘I think so.’ He looked away, as if he didn’t want to remember that happy bubble, how we couldn’t keep our hands off each other and he’d lifted me up to kiss me against the wall of the living room, my legs around his waist.

‘And then you went to work?’

‘Over Windermere way, yes. Coppicing.’ I didn’t know what that was exactly, but I nodded.

‘And . . . you got Sam from school in the afternoon?’

‘Yes, I told you, I had him that night.’

‘I know, I know, but when did you get him exactly?’

He paused, as if trying to remember. ‘I suppose it was about four. They finish earlier, but there’s after-school club. We went back to the flat, I made him baked beans, he watched TV, and he went to sleep about half seven. You want to know what Peppa Pig episode we watched, is that it?’