Mum and Dad. Of course, she went straight to them. I was only her husband, after all.

‘The person who knocked you off your bike,’ she said in a rush, ‘could have been your Psycho Dad character from school, the one who made the phone calls and threw that brick through the window. But I had a strong feeling that was Copeland. Mum and Dad were all up in arms about getting another injunction against him, but I felt deep down that this wasn’t really going to stop him. I got angry then. Really angry. So, I did a stupid thing, Ell.’

Cold hands seemed to snake around my neck, then. Now we were getting to the part that changed everything.

‘When I was at Mum and Dad’s the other night,’ she said, ‘I contacted him from the old number. I thought if I could just meet him face to face when I was prepared for it, I could make him understand that he was hurting me and that I would never be with him in the way he wanted.’

I was on my feet again, almost without realizing it.

‘For fuck’s sake! How could you have been so stupid!’

Anya looked down, cheeks red. Her hands started to twist together again in her lap.

‘I know,’ she said, voice trembling. ‘I know how it sounds. And it was stupid. Believe me, Mum and Dad have given me hell over it. But it is what it is.’

Anya swore and leaned back against the sofa for a moment, closing her eyes.

‘So?’ I said, forcing myself not to grab her by the shoulders and yell into her face. ‘What happened when you met him?’

She sat up and threaded her hands around her knees again, making herself even smaller on the sofa.

‘I arranged to meet him in the car park at Petrel Point.’

‘Shit!’ I couldn’t stop myself from shouting. ‘What the hell were you thinking?’

She started to sob now and spoke indistinctly through her tears. ‘It’s always such a popular spot. It felt like being out in such a wide-open space would be safer than meeting him anywhere else.’

Breathing as heavily as if I had just been running, I said, ‘I’m sorry. Tell me the rest. I won’t interrupt.’

The words all came out in a rush.