‘There’s something else as well.’

She sighed. ‘Is it about drinking wine again, because I haven’t—’

‘I found something in the bathroom next door, in the bin. The bathroom that you and your brother use.’

‘In the bin?’

‘Yes.’

She looked up from her phone again, frowning. ‘Because that’s not weird at all, going through our bin – perfectly normal behaviour.’

‘I wasn’t going through it, I was retrieving one of his T-shirts that got ripped.’

‘So what did you find in there?’

I reached into my pocket and took out what I’d found. ‘Do you know what this is?’

She glanced at the short stick of white plastic that I was holding. Blinked once, twice. Looked away again.

‘Yeah. We did it in biology.’

‘And?’

‘It’s one of those test things. A pregnancy test.’

‘Correct. Do you know how they work?’

‘Not exactly.’ She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. ‘You have to wee on it or something?’

‘Right again. It detects the presence of a hormone called hCG, which is secreted after a fertilised egg attaches to the wall of a woman’s uterus.’ I turned it over to show her the two parallel blue lines behind the clear plastic window. ‘Two lines means pregnant.’

‘I know that.’

I thought for a moment about how to phrase the next question.

‘And do you know,’ I said slowly, ‘how it got there? Into your bathroom?’

‘Not a clue. Someone else must have put it there.’

I leaned forward, smiling at her. Trying to soften my expression. ‘Is there something you want to tell me? It’s OK if you are, we can talk about—’

‘I’m not!’ she said forcefully, crossing her arms.

‘You’re not what?’

‘Pregnant. The test isn’t mine. And if it had been mine, I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to dump it in my own bathroom bin where anyone might find it and start asking questions. Where Daniel might find it.’

I felt a little of the weight lift from my shoulders. ‘You’re sure?’

‘Trust me, Mum – I’d be way more sneaky about it than that. You’d never know.’

Chapter 54

54

Jennifer

Behind a locked door in the downstairs bathroom, Jennifer wiped her eyes and blew her nose before taking another tissue to repair the damage to her eyeliner. She stared at the face in the mirror for a moment, hands grasping the granite worktop, taking ten deep breaths as she’d been taught to do. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Calm. Clear. Do what needs to be done.