‘No, I didn’t.’

Oli doesn’t reply, just looks at Cara and waits a few seconds.

‘Yesterday was the first time we’ve spoken since Titus was born,’ she elaborates.

‘You’re not close?’

‘We have the occasional phone call, and I see them at Christmas,’ she replies breezily. ‘But it always makes me feel like shit, so …’ She shrugs and wipes her sleeve across her nose. ‘I see my biological dad a bit these days. My mum’s dead, though. Heroin.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Oli says.

‘It’s fine. I never knew her.’ Cara taps her teaspoon lightly on the table. ‘And now Nicole’s disappeared all over again, huh?’ She slumps back in her chair. ‘God, it never ends.’

‘Have you spoken to her?’ Oli asks casually.

Cara passes the salt shaker back and forth between her hands and says in a dramatic movie-trailer voice, ‘Not since that fateful day in 2005.’

Oli tries to hide her frustration. Cara is hard to read, and her sarcasm is like a toxic poison infiltrating what Oli assumes is an interesting and vibrant personality.

Cara sighs. ‘Like I said on the phone, I really doubt I’ll be much use to you.’

‘And yet here we are.’ Oli looks at her expectantly.

‘Huh?’

‘You didn’t say no to the idea of talking to me. That tells me you want to say something.’

Cara crosses her arms. Rolls her eyes. ‘I was curious.’

‘Curious?’ Oli says sceptically.

‘What, everyone else is allowed to salivate over this bullshit and I’m not?’

‘Cara, I’m not trying to upset you.’

She mutters under her breath, and for a few moments Oli thinks she might cry. But instead she throws her hands up in the air. ‘What do you want from me? Childhood anecdotes? A sibling-rivalry subplot?’

Oli’s cheeks ache, tingle with heat. Cara is starting to annoy her. ‘What do I want? I want to know what happened that night. Young women don’t go around stabbing each other for no reason. And I don’t like stories that don’t make sense. I think Evelyn Stanley knew something or threatened someone or did something. I think Alex stabbed her, but I think there’s more to it. And your sister is the key to the whole thing, I’m sure of it.’ She pauses to breathe.

Cara’s dark eyes shine. ‘Even if you’re right, I can’t help you. I don’t know shit.’

‘You were close.’ Oli softens her voice. ‘You and Nicole shared a room until she moved out, and you stayed in touch. You were at the house the day Evelyn died. Maybe you don’t realise what you know.’

Cara’s bravado visibly fades, and she seems less certain. Her long fingers worry the large wooden beads that hang around her neck. ‘I wasn’t at the party. I wasn’t invited.’