‘Don’t I?’ Dell said. Then she put the phone down and looked at them with all her attention. ‘So,’ she said. ‘Are you having a good day?’

They looked at her, and Greta said, ‘It’s all right. Bit of a clusterfuck to sort out.’

‘Is that the thing you were talking about last night?’ Dell said, eating the sandwich again.

‘Were we talking about it?’ Greta asked, and Dell nodded. ‘Yeah. Well, it is slowly untangling itself.’

‘Lucky there’s two of you,’ Dell said.

‘Or is it only happening because there’s two of us?’ Peggy asked.

‘Deep,’ Dell said, then she looked straight at them. ‘Don’t be too quick to “untangle” things, that’s all. You’ve been such cowards. You should maybe take this moment and, like, finish what you started.’ Then she went back to her phone. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Work.’

‘What are you working on?’ Greta asked.

‘Sales. Selling things.’

‘Really?’ Peggy said, and Dell nodded.

‘What about the notebook,’ said Greta, holding it up. ‘Why’d you give us the notebook?’

‘To write down the phone calls.’

‘So, you don’t want the notebook back?’ Greta said.

Dell took a moment then shook her head.

‘It’s not some kind of navigational tool?’

‘Or a cheat code?’ Peggy said.

‘I don’t think it works like that.’ Dell was picking crumbs off the plate.

‘Why did you even come over here?’ Greta said.

‘I was hungry,’ Dell said. ‘And a bit lonely. Ash is at school, Bisi’s gone out. Heidi’s at work. Heidi said you work from home.’ She looked around the room, at the Tamagotchi phones and the notebook on the table. She picked up the notebook and flicked through it.

‘Do you want a glass of water?’ Greta said.

Dell nodded. ‘Yes, please.’

‘What about that message last night? How did you know that was us?’

‘I’d seen the phone by then,’ she said.

Peggy and Greta were getting confused now.

Dell put down the notebook and drank from the glass of water. ‘It’s not rocket science.’

‘So you haven’t been messaging us all this time?’ Peggy said.

‘No,’ Dell said.

‘And you don’t know who has?’

‘No,’ Dell said.

‘And you haven’t come to save us?’

‘What from?’ Dell said. While they’d been talking, she’d slid all the phones except her smartphone into her bag. Like a shoplifter. The notebook was still on the table.

They sat in silence again, and Greta and Peggy ate their sandwiches.

‘It’s hot,’ Greta said.

‘Yeah,’ the others chorused.

‘I’m so glad we’ve got the heat pump,’ Greta said.

‘Yeah,’ said Dell. ‘Actually. I think I probably do need the notebook.’

Peggy and Greta watched as she put it in the bag with the phones.