‘I never threw myself at him,’ I say. ‘He pulled up outside my apartment in a tour bus and whisked me away with him.’

‘These are stories, Lorna. Your fairy stories.’

‘And he told me you two were separated. And that you were too weak and pathetic to deal with a divorce. You want to know what else he said?’

Diane’s eyes burn on mine. ‘Go ahead, Lorna. Give it your best shot.’

‘He said you married too young. That you were just a teenage infatuation, someone who played hard to get and wouldn’t have sex unless you were married. He said I was the real thing. True love. The best sex he ever had. And he said he couldn’t divorce you because you’d kill yourself. That’s what he said.’

‘You should be ashamed of yourself,’ says Diane. ‘They save the hottest part of hell for women like you.’

‘Do you think I’d have been with Michael if I hadn’t thought you were separated?’

‘Yes,’ says Diane. ‘That’s exactly what I think. I think you were obsessed with my husband and looking to get him any way you could. Listen, I know you were ill. That your mind isn’t quite right. That you were looking for a happily ever after.’

‘Of course that’s what you think,’ I say. ‘You want to believe the Michael fairy tale, just like I did. The truth is too painful. But were you there? Were you in the bedroom with us when he told me I was his one and all?’

‘Get the hell off of our property,’ says Diane. ‘You’re a bitter, twisted, jealous groupie who tried to get my husband put in jail. Honest to God, look at you with all those tattoos. What are you … a Hells Angel or something?’

‘No, I’ve done my time in hell,’ I say. ‘When I lived here.’

‘You never lived here, Lorna. That’s another of your many fantasies. And you don’t care about Liberty. You’re here because you’ve lost power over her. Have the decency to go home and let Liberty get to know her father.’

Diane whisks around and totters back towards the house.

‘GIVE ME MY DAUGHTER,’ I scream. ‘GIVE HER BACK TO ME.’

Diane doesn’t turn around.

‘YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID TO THOSE GIRLS. YOU MUST KNOW.’

Diane stumbles and catches herself on a tree. But then she carries on walking.

Once upon a time …

When the European tour finished, Michael and I drove through the English countryside in a rented limousine. I remember green fields, yellow autumn corn, red leaves on trees.

‘This house will be spectacular when it’s all done,’ said Michael. ‘A real king’s castle. I’m having them build turrets and all sorts. You’ll have your own tower, like a princess.’