‘Let’s have a wander,’ she says.

He still hasn’t spoken as they head into the trees towards the lake. There is a smell of damp leaves and the white sky makes the bare trees look ominous and spiky. A Canada goose takes flight by the water with a slow crack of wings, almost like a mechanical thing.

There is a neglected-looking bench in long grass at one end of the small lake and Anya heads for there and then sits, drawing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. Liam steals a glance at her. She’s in jeans and a white T-shirt, with battered white Converse on her feet. When she lifts her arm to push back her hair from her face, metal bangles jingle against her creamy skin. Liam feels a stab of pain in his chest, remembering the way they stretched out their arms and compared hand sizes as they lay in that attic room, warm and happy in the after-sex glow.

‘So what are we going to do then?’ she says after a moment’s silence, still looking out at the water.

Liam hesitates.

‘I think you know,’ he says quietly. ‘There’s only one thing we can do.’

‘I’ll say you spiked my drink,’ she says and he twists to look at her. There’s a gap between her easy tone and the content of what she said that he doesn’t understand, an unknowable space.

He turns his head back to the water and gets out the rollie tin again, more for something to do than a genuine desire for nicotine.

‘You can if you want,’ he says easily and it’s Anastasia’s turn to look at him now. He lights up and turns slightly. Her face is pinched and furious and he recognizes that she has been doing a very good job of pretending to be calm until now.

‘I’ll deny it,’ he continues, ‘but even if they don’t take my word for it, it’s a price I’m willing to pay. I just can’t walk around another day knowing what I know.’

Anastasia is silent, then very softly murmurs, ‘No …’ almost on a breath.

An urge to cry washes over Liam now, and he sucks hard on the damp paper of the rollie, drawing the smoke deep into his lungs.

‘Why did you do it?’ he says now and Anastasia sighs heavily and thumps both feet back down onto the ground at the same time.

‘I don’t know,’ she says. ‘I can’t really remember. I was just so … angry. I wanted you to pay attention and listen. Just to listen.’