Meredith cleared her throat. Tears sprang into her eyes. ‘Not quite,’ she said. ‘We, er, had sex in the disabled loo in the house. We went for a walk afterwards and he showed me the ice house. We kissed in there; he wanted to do it again, but I was already feeling guilty, so I went home.’

‘And how long had you and Ralph been having an affair?’ Mavis asked.

‘We hadn’t!’ Meredith replied hotly. ‘Honestly. We’ve been friends for years, but I swear on my life that was the first and only time anything ever happened between us. It was just a moment of madness, when I was feeling vulnerable and he was pissed.’

Gulping, she wiped away the two tears that had fallen at the same time, one from each eye, perfectly synchronised and straight down her pallid cheeks.

‘I was in shock. I couldn’t tell you because Paula’s my friend and I felt so guilty. And I was worried you’d think I did it.’ She looked up. ‘And I didn’t do it. I would never hurt either of them, Ralph or Andrea. I loved them. I think that’s why they’re dead. They were both killed because someone wants to get at me.’

41

1995
Meredith

My guardian angel’s name, I later found out, was Mr Martindale. I would be forever grateful that he’d been brave enough to shout, rather than just going off to call the police and not saying anything, because I’d have been dead if he’d done the latter. The strike of the knife had already severed several major veins in my hand; if I hadn’t got out then, I’d have bled to death.

Mr Martindale had heard the thuds and my muffled moans from the interior of the van as he took his corgi out for its middle-of-the-night constitutional. They were both elderly and insomniac. A war hero, even aged eighty-four he wasn’t afraid of confrontation, of speaking out when something was wrong. And it was clear that something was very wrong.

I would never forget the sound of Mr. Martindale’s voice, the firm, ‘Hello? Anyone still in there?’ to which I heaved and groaned and made whatever noise I could through my gaffer-tape gag, even though stars were exploding in my vision and black was creeping across my brain as I struggled to stay conscious. The pain in my body where the man had kicked me was nothing compared to the volcanic new agony of the knife piercing through my bones and sinews.