Okay. Here goes.

I got to the doors and saw movement in the room. At first I thought it was the vicar but then I looked closer and saw a big hairy man standing by the fireplace. He had his arms round Isobel’s neck. She was making gasping noises like she couldn’t get her breath. Her face was all red. It was a horrifying sight. He was killing her. Right in front of my eyes. I had to do something. I had to save her.

Within seconds I was in there, hauling him off her. He was a big man but I’m strong and, unlike most girls my age, I’ve been taught soldiering skills. I felt like I had him subdued but then Isobel screamed and shouted, ‘Grace, no.’ She looked shocked because she’s only ever seen me as the young girl who sells the eggs, she has no idea that I’ve been trained to be an elite soldier. Anyway, I was in battle mode and, much as I wanted to reassure her, I ignored her screams and got him in a chokehold just like I’d been taught, and then, when he was completely still, I put the knife to his throat. I told Isobel to run, to get out of there as fast as she could and that I would deal with this bastard, but she just stood there shaking her head.

‘Grace, stop it,’ she said. ‘Let him go.’

I couldn’t understand it. This monster was attacking her and she wanted me to let him go. I told her this. Told her that if she made a run for it I’d deal with him, finish him off nice and cleanly. No need for police or anything like that. And when I said this she looked at me like I was the scumbag, like I was the most disgusting thing she’d ever laid eyes on. Then she took a deep breath and told me if I didn’t let him go she would call the police. She said that Steve was her boyfriend and he wasn’t harming her, they were just kissing. When she said this I felt sick with shame. I’d made a complete idiot of myself. This man wasn’t attacking Isobel. She wanted him to do what he was doing. Slowly, I loosened my grip.

When he was free he staggered to the sofa with his hand on his neck. ‘Fucking nutter,’ he said. ‘You nearly killed me.’

I looked at Isobel then, hoping she would say something comforting to me, ask me to stay, tell him she’d made a big mistake and that he’d have to go. I wanted her to be like she was the first time I came here, all lovely and sweet and smiling. I wanted to go see her doll’s house and listen to her talk about art.

But instead she just went running over to him and put her arms round him. ‘Oh my God, my baby, are you okay?’ Baby. That’s what she called him. How can a grown man be a baby? Her baby. I just stood there watching them, the knife still clasped in my hands. She looked up at me then and told me to get out. She said it so coldly I was taken aback. It was like, in the space of a few minutes, I’d become a stranger to her. A dangerous stranger.