“Al,” I say, “there’s something I need to tell you about my massage. Kane was doing it, but then …” She turns to look at me; her eyes are wet with tears. “What is it? What’s wrong, Al?”

She passes a hand over her face and shakes her head, but the tears keep falling.

“Al.” I clutch her arm. “What is it?”

“Did …” She clears her throat and take a deep breath. “Did Kane tell you anything weird? Did he say anything to you about someone you’d lost?”

“Lost? What do you mean?”

“Isis knew about Tommy, Emma. She said his name.” She pulls away, runs her hands through her hair and takes a few steps towards the house, then turns back. “She was doing reiki on me, her hands cupped over my face, and I had my eyes closed and I could smell something warm and minty on the palms of her hands, and then she said his name – ‘Tommy’ – just like that. ‘You lost your brother Tommy.’”

Al’s brother Tommy died in a motorbike accident when he was eighteen and she was fifteen. It happened the day after she came out to her parents, after she’d been suspended from school for punching a girl who was spreading a rumour that Al was a dirty dyke who checked out Year 8 girls in the changing rooms. Her dad had flatly refused to discuss the matter, while her mum reacted with tears and recriminations, blaming Al’s lesbianism on everything from the ibuprofen she’d taken when pregnant with Al, to the fact that they’d let Al play with her brother’s toys. Al couldn’t deal with it so she packed a bag and caught the bus into town. Tommy found the note she’d left on the kitchen table when he got back from work, and went after her. He was hit by a car that was pulling out at a T-junction. Eye-witnesses said Tommy was driving over the speed limit and the driver didn’t see him until too late.

“Seriously, Emma. She knew everything about him. She knew about the motorbike. She knew how old we were. She knew his last words and about Mum and Dad arguing about whether he’d want to donate his organs. She knew everything.”

“Have you told anyone here about him? Maybe she overheard you talking to Leanne or Daisy.”

“No. I haven’t mentioned Tommy once. Not once. And no one knows what his last words were apart from me, Mum and Dad, and you guys.”

“Someone must have told her.”