‘The burner phone?’ I ask, wondering when this nausea-inducing rollercoaster will ever end. ‘How do you know about the burner phone?’

He slams his hands down on the granite. ‘So it’s true then!’ he says, his nostrils flaring.

‘The police found a phone here this morning,’ I say. ‘But it wasn’t mine.’

‘Of course it wasn’t.’ He makes a self-satisfied clicking sound with his mouth.

‘How do you know there was a phone?’ I ask again.

‘Vanessa told me that’s how you and he communicated, with secret phones.’

My ears go hot, muffling everything he says. I can see his lips moving, but it doesn’t correlate with what he’s saying. All I can think about is how he and Vanessa seem to know more about the phone found in my bathroom than I do. And suddenly, it all becomes clear.

‘Oh my god,’ I gasp.

He looks at me with a perplexed expression.

‘It’s . . . it’s you and her, isn’t it?’

‘What?’ he says, but I know he knows I’m on to him. I can see it in his eyes.

‘You and Michael’s wife, that’s what this is all about.’ I hit my forehead with the base of my palm. ‘How can I have been so fucking stupid?’

He watches me carefully as my brain pulls it all together. ‘You and her are in this together,’ I say, my voice high-pitched. ‘You wanted to get rid of Michael and frame me for it.’

‘This is getting more absurd by the minute,’ he says.

I pace up and down as all the pieces fall into place. ‘That’s it!’ I exclaim, thinking aloud. ‘You did it because you wanted to be together. You wanted us both out of the picture and this is how you thought you’d make that happen.’

Leon laughs. ‘Oh, I’ve heard it all now.’

I go towards him, desperate to lash out, but as soon as I’m an inch away, I stop myself, ashamed that I came so close. ‘What have you done with him, you bastard?’ I scream. ‘Tell me what you’ve done with him.’

He looks at me wide-eyed, as if he can’t believe that our relationship has sunk to such depths. Him and me both.

‘This is crazy,’ he yells. ‘You’re crazy!’

He storms out, making the house shake as the door slams and rebounds against the frame.