The mood was sombre, no one was talking. Karl had gone AWOL again. Gail’s inbox was cluttered with messages. She had contacts in mainstream media; they all wanted a slice of the action, an exclusive on the trial. But they didn’t know the half of it.

Alexia Elias was murdered. Someone took a blowtorch to her face.

She checked her phone but there was nothing from Andros. They had argued that morning.

‘Why aren’t you here, with me?’ He had every right to ask.

‘It’s a few days, a week at most. Tomas says we need to stay together.’

‘Why? What the fuck is he so afraid of?’

‘Andros, people are dying.’ Her voice was a hiss; she barely recognised it.

‘All the more reason why you should be here, with me. I’m coming over there, now.’

She had persuaded him not to. Promised to come home tonight, even though she had no intention of doing so. He had relented, begrudgingly. They hadn’t been close in years, they both knew they were at the tail end of a dwindling marriage.

But that wasn’t the reason why Gail preferred to stay at Tomas’s.

‘What are you doing?’

She looked up, startled. Hadn’t heard him pad through. He wore joggers, a white T-shirt, bare feet. His hair was a mess, and there were heavy shadows under a pair of eyes cobwebbed with tiny red veins. Tomas Jansen looked washed out.

‘Reading,’ she replied quickly. ‘Seeing what’s out there and what’s not.’

‘Don’t mope, we should be celebrating. The wicked witch is dead.’

He opened the fridge but not before casting her a dangerous look. It said, Don’t defy me: be happy.

‘I didn’t want to win like this.’

Tomas snorted, took a pint of milk from the fridge and drank straight from the bottle. Then, he walked round behind Gail, stood there, looking over her shoulder. She didn’t move, just soaked up the tension he was giving off. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

‘You want to ask me something, Gail?’ he said softly.

Gail felt her throat tighten. It suited you to have Alexia dead, she wanted to say. It wasn’t as if Tomas had never been violent. Or at least that’s what she thought. There had been Bella, Tomas’s ex-girlfriend, and those bruises on her arms. But no proof, and Bella herself never said anything.

She couldn’t be sure. But she would stay here to find out. If you had anything to do with this, I’ll know.

‘I guess we can all relax now, then,’ she said, sensing his agitation behind her.

‘No. Priest says it’s not that simple.’

‘You must be disappointed.’