Beth listened, trying to read the silence. The noise from the shower jets had stopped. She could smell spices on the air – her father was making a curry. She thought she heard low murmurs coming from Eva’s room and made the assumption that her sister was on the phone. Briefly, Beth considered quietly crossing the hall to put her ear against the door and listen. It was not something she was proud of, resorting to eavesdropping on members of her own family. But Eva was so secretive. How else would Beth find out anything that was going on in her sister’s life?

On this occasion, she decided to stay where she was and wait for Corinne. While she waited, Beth scrolled through her social media accounts for updates. Her plan was working, and she took the opportunity now to add a few more crumbs to the trail. It was getting easier at this point – a simple matter of agreeing with speculation, thereby amplifying it. Sasha was involved now, and Beth noted the degree of annoyance and even hysteria that had crept into Sasha’s posts – vehement denials, protestations of bullshit – but it was all just part of the game. Briefly, she remembered Lisa’s whispered account of Sasha’s insecurities: talk of an absentee father and an overzealous mother, how beneath the nonchalant exterior, medication was required to calm her nerves. For a moment, Beth felt a pinch of conscience, as if Lisa was right there at her elbow, tugging at her sleeve. Still. It was hard to feel sorry for Sasha. ‘See how you like it,’ Beth murmured to herself while ‘liking’ another denigrating comment.

Corinne had been gone for a while, and when Beth stepped out into the hall, she heard the rise and fall of voices from Eva’s room, the whispered urgency. Opening the door, she found them sitting on the bed, Corinne wrapped in her towel with hair dripping, Eva beside her.

‘What’s going on?’ Beth asked, her gaze falling on Corinne’s hand which was wrapped around Eva’s wrist.

Instantly Eva snatched her hand out of Corinne’s grasp.

‘Nothing,’ she snapped, rising to her feet.

‘What are you doing in here?’ Beth asked Corinne, alarm springing up inside as she caught the way Corinne’s eyes followed Eva as she paced to the window.

‘Leave us, Beth,’ was all she said.

The anger came swiftly.

‘No, I won’t leave you. Not until you tell me what’s going on.’

‘There’s nothing going on,’ Eva claimed but Beth shook her head, looking from one of them to the other.

‘You’re always in here, the two of you. Whispering, telling each other secrets, leaving me out.’ A cracked note sounded in her voice, but still she pressed on. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’

‘God, Beth, no one’s doing anything to you. I don’t even want her in here with me.’