‘Why did Beth say that to you? How she didn’t think you’d be surprised by what she’d done. What did she mean by that?’

‘Mark—’

‘Did something happen? Something I don’t know about?’

He is looking at me so intensely that it almost frightens me. Can he read it in my face? Can he see it in my eyes, this thing I have buried so deep inside me, I thought it might never be found?

‘Abi?’

Seven months I’ve kept it hidden. Seven months I’ve kept it safe. But I feel the press of his stare, his hunger for this knowledge even though by sharing it I will only compound his pain.

Falteringly, I tell him: ‘I remember the last time I spoke to her.’

‘Beth?’

‘Melissa.’ I meet his eye, see something waver behind it. ‘I was in work. It was a Friday afternoon.’

She had sounded upbeat – that was what surprised me. My sister-in-law with her anxieties and neuroses; so often in our phone conversations I was aggravated by how morose she could be.

‘She told me she felt like a change – a complete change. She said that she felt she’d been locked up in a dusty room for too long and now she wanted to fling wide the windows and doors, let the light in.’

‘She said that?’ There’s disbelief in his eyes, but I can see he’s listening, intent on what I’m telling him.

‘It was like she suddenly realized that there was still life left in her and she was anxious to make the most of the time. She started talking about travel – Melissa, who never went anywhere! She’d harboured a dream of seeing Rome, she said, and I found myself offering to go with her. Mark, she was so happy at the prospect, it made me feel guilty I’d never thought to offer before.’

I had promised to look into flights and accommodation, but I was still at work and eager to get her off the phone.

‘I arranged to call over to her house the next morning, so we could discuss various options and make a plan. Just as we were making the arrangement, she became distracted. There was someone at the door, she told me. So, we said our goodbyes, and I was hanging up the phone when I heard her greet her visitor.’

It’s you, she had said, sounding surprised. I didn’t know you were calling over, love.

‘Instinctively, I knew it was Beth. From the tone of Melissa’s voice – I just knew. And I didn’t think anything of it at the time.’

There was no flash of intuition, no slow chill of doubt. I turned my concentration to my work and forgot about it.