‘I’m fine, thanks,’ I replied, my throat dry.

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. ‘I wish we’d got to talk properly today.’

‘We don’t have anything to talk about.’

‘Yes, we do,’ he said. ‘Paige, I never apologised for what I did, and I regret it. I want you to see that I’m not the man I was then. I made a lot of mistakes, and I’d like to try and put some of them right.’

I was so surprised by this, I leant back against the wall, the heat of the pizzas starting to burn my hand through the boxes.

‘Paige?’

‘I’m still here,’ I said. ‘I wasn’t sure what to say.’

‘That’s okay, you don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know I’m sorry, and I hope we can at least be civil to each other. I understand if you want nothing to do with me, but I couldn’t sleep without knowing you’d at least heard my apology.’

‘Okay. Well. Thank you for the apology,’ I said. I didn’t know what else to say in response, because I’d never imagined a scenario in which he actually took responsibility for the way he’d treated me.

‘I’ll see you soon, okay?’

‘Okay.’

He hung up, and I stared at my phone for a moment before walking back up to the flat. I put the pizzas on the table, trying to figure out what had just happened.

You took your time, Max said with a grin. Hope you haven’t eaten half of mine.

He thought he’d brought the wrong order, had to check, I lied. Anna narrowed her eyes at me, but I gave my head a slight shake. Now wasn’t the time.

Just as I’d been getting to a place in my life where I’d put my past behind me, suddenly everything had been thrown into confusion again. Against my better judgement, I saved the unknown number on my phone as ‘M’, not putting his full name in case Anna saw it and had a go at me. I ignored the little voice telling me that if I was hiding it from my sister it was probably a bad idea.

Sixteen hours before the murder

I’m going to have such a shit weekend compared to you, Samira grumbled as she and Leon left their English lesson. He walked with her in the direction of the car park, where she’d be met by the taxi that took her home.

You’ll be fine, you’re going to spend the weekend watching what you want on Netflix, eating takeaway and ignoring your brother when he tries to make you tidy up. That sounds like a dream to me.