‘You were looking to finish what you started a week ago,’ she continued, blood dripping steadily from her arm onto the cream carpet. ‘To get revenge on Ben for sleeping with your wife and ruining your career. And when killing Ben wasn’t enough, you decided to get revenge in another way. By having his wife, just like he had yours.’

‘You’re crazy, Beth.’

‘You tried to rape me.’

‘Of course I didn’t.’ I sat up straighter, shifted my weight forward in the chair slightly. ‘What the hell are you saying?’

‘You came at me with that knife – which only has your fingerprints on it, by the way – and tried to attack me. You cut me, tried to grab the shotgun to take it away from me, turn it on me. More nice clear fingerprints.’

‘I haven’t touched the gun.’

‘Yes you have. The other night at my house, remember?’

We had come here, William and I, before going on to the Kingsway Mall. I’d picked up a shotgun on the sofa to move it away from my son. Fingerprints.

‘The night when you were spaced out on the sofa?’ A shock of realisation. ‘Except you weren’t spaced out at all, were you?’

She smiled.

‘It’s actually harder than people think to look convincingly stoned.’

‘This is madness. Pure and simple.’

‘Is it? I think you’ll find it makes a certain kind of sense.’

‘Stop it now, it’s gone far enough. You’ve made your point.’

Her eyes narrowed and she took another step nearer, still levelling the shotgun at me. Her voice, when she spoke, was as taut as piano wire.

‘Don’t. Tell me. What. To do.’ Blood from her arm continued to drip in deep red drops onto the cream carpet.

I held my hands up, palms out.

‘OK, OK.’ I put my hands down on the front of the chair arms, for leverage. Ready to make my move. Protect the boy. ‘You’re the boss, Beth.’

‘That’s right – for the first time in my life. I had eighteen years of my father telling me what to do. Who I should be friends with. Who I was and who I should fall in love with. Then another eighteen of Ben doing exactly the same. Telling me we didn’t need to be careful, then telling me I couldn’t have an abortion when he got me pregnant in our final year of university. Telling me to stay home and look after Alice full-time instead of pursuing my acting career. Then telling me he didn’t want me working until Alice went to university. And then you, you, thinking you could take over from where Ben left off. Well today it stops. For good.’

I nodded towards the open door onto the landing.

‘And what about him?’