Saskia narrows her eyes and holds her ground. ‘Fuck you, Kat.’

‘She told me how pissed off she was with you,’ Kat continues, oblivious to Saskia’s growing anger. ‘For putting that post up on MyNeighbour.’ Somewhere within her spiralling thoughts, Kat knows that it was Saskia’s post that led her to Beth in the first place, and that she should be grateful. But the cyclone is too strong for rational thought.

‘How dare you speak to me like that. In fact, who even are you?’ Saskia asks, her pitch rising.

‘I’m Beth’s friend,’ she counters.

‘No you’re not. You’re Luna’s dog walker. And somehow, you’ve weaselled your way into Beth’s life, her home, her children’s lives.’ She takes a step closer, but Kat doesn’t back away. She wants to slap Saskia’s stupid face. ‘Why would you do that?’ Saskia continues, tilting her head. ‘It’s not for the money, is it? You want her, her beauty, her celebrity.’

‘No,’ Kat mumbles. ‘It’s not like that.’

‘You’re obsessed with her, aren’t you? And too blind, too stupid, to see that Beth would never feel like that about you.’

‘You know nothing about our friendship,’ Kat warns. Her skin is fizzing now. She wants to headbutt Saskia, knock her out, remove the problem in one swift movement.

‘I’m going to tell Beth that you were skulking outside her house, you know.’

‘Tell her what you want!’ Kat blurts out. Her head feels like a spinning top, spiralling dangerously towards a cliff edge. ‘She won’t mind; Beth and I go back eighteen years!’

‘What?’

‘Nothing.’ Kat sucks in some air. What has she said? Saskia mustn’t know about that, about Katherine and Ellie. It will disrupt everything.

‘You grew up with her? Is that what you’re saying? You knew her before her parents died?’ Saskia pushes.

The words land on Kat’s skin, but she can’t absorb them. ‘What?’ She shouldn’t have said anything, but now Saskia isn’t making sense.

‘Did you live in Reading too?’ Saskia presses. ‘Is that why the two of you are so pally?’

‘Reading?’ Kat stutters. ‘Are Beth’s parents dead?’

‘Hah!’ Saskia shouts in triumph. ‘You can’t know her, then. Because they died when she was a teenager, in a car accident. Which means you’re lying, or delusional! How could I have ever thought you and Beth were friends?’