“I was knitting something for my little sister’s birthday,” I say. “Blake pulled it apart.”

“Knitting,” Roberto repeats, scribbling it on his pad. “You enjoy knitting?”

“Why would I do it if I didn’t enjoy it?” I say.

Roberto scribbles something else. Maybe “enjoying”.

“Of course,” he says. “Do you think … is it something you can knit again?”

“No!” I try not to shout. “It was for my sister! It was special!”

There’s silence. I expect Elena to come in with more feds to see what’s going on. Roberto’s phone vibrates. He glances at it, makes a face, then turns it face down.

“Who taught you to knit?” Vera asks me gently. “I see lots of young people knitting and I always wonder how they learned.” She clenches and unclenches her fists. “I’m too clumsy to do anything delicate like that.”

“My aunty Jasmine. She started me with big needles,” I say. “All I could do was squares. But they weren’t really squares because I couldn’t get the tension right. But it didn’t matter. I used to sit in bed making piles of them until I heard Mum come home.”

I see Roberto glance at his watch.

“How old were you?” Vera asks.

“Six,” I say. “Or seven.”

Vera smiles and says, “You’re a seasoned knitter then. You should take commissions.”

Commissions? Maybe “Mr Morrisey” missed out that part of the story – how Blake offered me a commission before pulling my blanket apart? I push my chair away from the table and fold my arms. Roberto lays his hand across his pen as if I’m gonna grab it and stab him too. There’s silence.

“The police will want to start the interview soon,” Roberto says, and glares at Vera. “We better skip ahead to today’s events in case we run out of time.”

“We’ll take as long as we need,” Vera says.

Elena brings Roberto’s coffee.

She’s about to leave when Vera says, “Aren’t you going to check if Charlene needs anything?” Vera turns to me. “Do you want a hot drink or some water?”

“May I have a cup of tea, please?” I don’t really want one, but I’m looking at Roberto. He taps his notebook gently and doesn’t meet my eye. But Roberto and Elena swap a look. I don’t know why people do this and not expect you to notice. Maybe they think they blink into another dimension for half a second.

“A cup of tea, please,” Vera says, smiling at Elena.

“Sure,” Elena says. “Will you be ready soon?”

Roberto nods.

“I’ll let you know,” Vera says.