‘You don’t mind if I have it, do you?’ she asked, pouring it. ‘I’m parched and I really fancy a glass of something wicked after all that meditation.’ She took a sip, rolled it around her mouth and swallowed. I watched so closely I could almost taste it myself. ‘Nice,’ she said. ‘You really should do that retreat. It was amazing. I learned so much about why we should eat more raw food.’

‘Aren’t you going to ask what happened?’

‘What happened to who?’

‘To the cat.’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘His throat was slit.’

Grace pulled a face. ‘Eek. Brutal. And who found him?’ She drew lines down the condensation on the side of her wine glass.

‘I did.’

Grace sighed. ‘Honestly. It must have been awful. I’m really sorry.’ She took another sip of wine. ‘So, anything else happen while I was finding my spiritual self?’ She gazed at me over the rim of the wine class and I held her gaze. Energy fizzed between us. She killed him. I knew it. And she knew that I knew. She also knew that I wouldn’t say anything. My hands gripped the edge of the counter.

‘Nothing major. I realized the house got into quite a state the past few weeks so I decided we should share the chores. I’ve drawn up a rota. It’s there.’ My voice sounded fake to me; the words that were spilling out of my mouth utterly meaningless when all I could think about was Grace’s non-verbal admission of guilt.

Grace picked up the piece of paper and examined it, then tossed it back down. ‘Bins? Loading the dishwasher? Seriously, Abs. We don’t need a rota. We’re both adults. We can see what needs doing.’

‘I know, but…’

‘What if I’m out and it’s my turn to do something? Will you wait for me to get back to run the dishwasher? Please! If you want me to help, you just have to say. I didn’t want to encroach on your territory. You were always so territorial. I was waiting for you to ask.’

I looked down at the table, scenes from our flatshare playing through my mind: me always cooking. Me always cleaning up. Was she lazy and entitled, or was I territorial? Which was it?

‘Don’t you want to hear my news?’ Grace’s eyes were bright, her energy like popping candy.

‘Sure.’

She took another sip of her wine and I thought about getting myself a glass from the wine box. I could actually do with another vodka but that was upstairs.

‘I got back early this morning,’ Grace said, ‘and I knew I wasn’t welcome here till later, so I decided to do some flat-hunting.’

‘Oh, okay,’ I nodded, ignoring the barb.

‘Expensive area, isn’t it?’