‘I don’t know what finally made me realise that I needed to get out. Not just out of the flat, but out of the relationship. I can’t pinpoint the moment I thought, “What the hell are you doing? How can you be living like this?” But it happened eventually. I tried shouting out of the window for help when people passed by, but this is a quiet village and on the rare occasion when people do go past either they’re in their own world or they have headphones in. So, nobody heard me, and in the end I dug out a hammer and broke the window. He took my phone and keys, but he didn’t think to take any tools.’

‘So, the scar is from where you cut yourself breaking the window?’ Singh asked, his voice hushed.

‘Climbing out of the broken window, really,’ I said. ‘I threw a blanket over the bottom of the window frame to try and prevent that, but I slipped as I was climbing out and caught my arm on the glass at the side. I knocked on one of my neighbours’ doors and they called an ambulance.’

I hadn’t been signing the story while I was speaking. It was enough effort just to tell the story without telling it in two languages at once. As I came to the end, I felt tears well up in my eyes, and Anna hugged me close.

‘How long were you in hospital?’

‘Three days. It probably would have been less, but Gem told the nurses that I was at high risk of domestic abuse if I was discharged any earlier. I didn’t find that out until later. She and Anna had the locks changed and threw all of Mike’s stuff into the corridor. When he came back, he found out I was in hospital and tried to visit me, but I knew by then the damage he’d done to me and I asked him to leave. When he wouldn’t, the ward staff called security. That was the last time I saw him.’

‘Until you saw him at Normanby Hall?’

‘Until then.’

Chapter 29

Once I’d finished telling my story and managed to regain my composure I actually felt better. I had never believed the old adage that a problem shared is a problem halved, yet knowing there was someone else who knew the story and believed me gave me a confidence I hadn’t felt before.

Singh asked about our plans for the day, and I had a quick signed conversation with Anna.

Should I ask him to come with me to visit Jane Villiers?

Anna pulled a face. Do you think she’ll still talk to you if he’s there?

I think so, I replied. She doesn’t strike me as the sort of woman who would be put off by the presence of a detective.