‘Why shouldn’t you?’ I stared up at her. ‘I really liked Mari, you know that. I think maybe…’ No, I couldn’t use the word I was about to say. It was so easy to use big words about people who were dead.

‘Someone said they’d seen you at the school.’

I sighed. ‘It’s not true. I was at home all night.’

Ida didn’t answer.

‘Please come down,’ I begged. ‘I need to talk to you.’

It didn’t look like she was going to close the window. Not to begin with at least. I looked up at her with pleading eyes. I wasn’t planning on giving up. Then something in her hard mask changed. Her face softened, and she rolled her eyes.

‘Hang on a minute, then.’

It took more like five for her to open to the door and stick her head out. I realised that she’d done herself up. Her eyes were more shiny and she’d put on some foundation. She was wearing a different top as well. I had to stop myself from staring at her breasts; they seemed to have been stuffed inside a bra that was far too small for them.

She didn’t open the door fully, or invite me in. She seemed to want to keep me at a distance, so she could shut the door quickly if I suddenly decided to attack her.

‘What do you want to talk about?’ she asked.

‘Mari, obviously,’ I said with a sigh. ‘I’m trying to find out what happened.’

Was that really what I was doing? I wasn’t sure.

‘Isn’t that what the police are supposed to be doing?’

‘Yes, but I need some answers too. And you knew her best.’

Ida just looked at me.

‘Can’t we at least talk about it?’ I pleaded. ‘See if we can think of anything new?’

Again, it was like she looked me up and down. Assessed me. I knew that she liked me, really. Finally, she opened the door and let me in.

‘Do you want anything?’ she asked, when I’d kicked off my shoes. ‘I think we’ve only got Coke and milk.’

‘No, thanks,’ I said.

‘Let’s go out the back, so I can have a cigarette.’

I followed her through the house and out onto the veranda. It looked like this was where Ida had been sitting all day, under a blanket. Her mobile phone was on the bench. There were cushions on one of the chairs. The ashtray was close to overflowing.

Ida found another cushion for me, and we sat down.

‘What the hell’s going on, Ida?’

She let out big sigh. ‘I don’t know,’ she said.

‘She must have said something to you about … something. About why she split up with me, just like that, out of nowhere. Why she wouldn’t speak to me after.’