‘Well, you don’t have a choice,’ I say.

‘Just give me a minute,’ he says. I think he’s talking to me until I hear a woman’s voice saying, ‘OK.’

A spider moves across the floor towards me and I wonder if it’s coming to claim its prey.

‘What is it?’ he asks, a few seconds later. ‘I’m right in the middle of something.’

I briefly allow my suspicious thoughts to wonder what exactly he’s up to, but pull myself back.

‘The police have been here with a search warrant,’ I say, leaving it there, waiting for a reaction.

There’s a loaded silence at the other end of the line.

‘And?’ he says, finally.

‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’

‘I don’t know what you want me to say any more.’

‘That you’re there for me,’ I snap. ‘That no matter what the police keep throwing at me, you’ve got my back.’

‘I’ve got enough to deal with, without this,’ he says, selfishly.

‘You make it sound as if this is my problem – that you’ve got nothing to do with it.’

‘Isn’t that so?’ he says bluntly.

‘They know Jacob was at the Royal Garden hotel,’ I say, betting he hasn’t got an answer for this one.

I can hear his breathing change. ‘How?’

‘Apparently someone recognized him being there and reported it. The police are on their way there now to look at the CCTV.’

‘Shit!’ he says.

I should tell him that I’m hoping I’ve deleted all trace of him, but I don’t want to let him off the hook just yet.

‘They’ll see me walking in,’ he says, without any regard for me. I wonder if that’s because he knows that I’m innocent. But he can only truly know that if he knows he’s guilty.

‘I need you to tell me what happened,’ I say. ‘I don’t know what to think any more. Every passing second brings another piece of evidence against me and the only person who could possibly be behind it is . . .’ I can’t bring myself to finish the sentence.

‘Is me?’ he says, almost inaudibly.

‘Well, yes, but I don’t know why. I mean, even if you thought Jacob and I were having an affair and you’d done something, would you really go out of your way to blame it on me?’

‘Do you honestly think I’m capable of doing something like that?’ he chokes.

‘I just don’t fucking know any more,’ I say, truthfully.

‘Naomi, we were making love just a few nights ago.’

‘And look how that turned out,’ I cry.

‘What is that supposed to mean?’ he asks.