‘So,’ I said finally, ‘you’re actually going to confess what you did to that woman?’

Liam turned his gaze to me, a look of amusement on his face now.

‘Ah, right,’ he said, with a sharp laugh. ‘I shouldn’t be surprised that’s the story she concocted. The trouble is … Elliott, is it?’

I nodded.

‘The trouble is, Elliott, that you have been played for a fool.’

‘What the fuck are you—’

‘Don’t listen to him, Elliott,’ said Anya loudly, turning back to look at me, ‘he’s absolutely full of shit. Of course he’s going to deny it.’

‘Okay, then,’ said Liam. ‘Shall I tell you why I haven’t seen my family, why I missed my own father’s funeral, and then my brother’s?’ His tone started out even but now his voice was rising and I saw that he was holding back emotion with a visible will. He had tanned, sinewy arms with lots of leather and cloth bracelets on his wrists and he kept clenching and unclenching his fists. I was bigger than him, but he had an energy about him and a wiry strength that meant I wasn’t confident about overpowering him if the need arose.

He wiped his hands on his canvas trousers. Nervous sweat? I instinctively moved a little closer to Anya.

‘So since the afternoon when her father,’ he tipped a thumb at Anya, whose jaw was set, her eyes cold now ‘… beat the shit out of me with a golf club then threatened my family, it felt wise for me to stay away. D’you understand what I’m saying?’

He was breathing heavily. I think I had my mouth open now. Patrick had done that? Patrick? Or was it all lies?

Livi had gone quiet upstairs, thank God. I didn’t want her anywhere near this.

‘So why,’ he went on, his eyes swimming now, ‘why would he have gone to all that trouble if it had been me who pushed that poor woman under a train?’

He roughly wiped his nose with the back of his hand, his composure crumbling. When he spoke again, his voice cracked.

‘I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been over it in my mind,’ he said in a rush, breathing heavily. ‘I nearly killed myself with the guilt of it all, that I didn’t stop you …’

‘Liam—’ said Anya in a loud voice but he shouted over her.

‘No!’ he said. ‘You killed her in cold blood and it’s time you paid for it!’

Something was beginning to crumble, so painfully, inside my mind.