‘Ah, the landlady. I’ve heard a lot about you,’ she said.

I’ve heard absolutely nothing about you.

‘That’s me,’ I replied, resisting the urge to throw her off my chair. She was attractive, in a horsey way, but she knew it. Unfortunately for her, she had the worst case of resting bitch face I’d ever seen. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’

Ben looked up at me and I returned his stare with a quick raise of the eyebrows and left the room to have a shower.

I wished I could share my news of finding Ian. I’d gone from elation to deflation in the space of an hour. Ben had never brought a girl back before, in all the time we’d lived together. I wasn’t sure I liked it although there was no rule to say he couldn’t. I wanted to share my progress. I knew Ben would think I was crazy for getting involved and not handing the information over to the police. Was I crazy? I needed evidence to get him off the streets, and I couldn’t rely on the police to find it. The idea of going undercover made me twitchy and I paced around my room in my towel. I didn’t want to dwell on the fact I would be face to face with Ian. His name bounced around my head like a pinball machine and I struggled to connect the horrific attack with such an ordinary name.

This was the only way. There was a sexual predator on the loose, in a place where I used to feel safe. I had to do something about it. I had to protect the women of this community if the police couldn’t. I wouldn’t risk handing him over to Emmerson and her finding nothing at his apartment and him being released from suspicion. I had to be sure, without a doubt, that they had enough to put him away. I would need some help, but not from Ben, he would ask too many questions. Jane would try and talk me out of it. I sent an email to Debbie, asking if she wanted to meet for lunch next week.

The giggling continued from the kitchen until I couldn’t bear to listen to it any longer. Wrenching the volume knob up on my retro stereo, I drowned them out with angry rock music. How stupid was I to think I could rely on Ben? We’d had a moment, but it was short-lived, and it was clear I’d been replaced. I could do this without him.

I ignored the tap on the door when it came sometime later, after Amy had gone home, but Ben caught me on my way out of the house.

‘Off to the gym?’ he called from his room as I passed. The door was never normally open when he was in there.

‘Yep.’