Jake eyes his dad warily and then continues. ‘I heard someone scream, while I was beating the shit out of Graham, and saw Mum standing by the door with the knife in her hand. It must have fallen out of my back pocket. I was so shocked to see her I just kind of froze. Graham tried to escape. He started shouting that he was going to call the police and he ran right at Mum, knocking her out of the way so he could get out the door. She hit one of the cubicles and dropped the knife. I picked it up and said I was going to get him but Mum wouldn’t let me. She said she was scared the police were going to show up and I’d end up in prison. She told me to get myself home and she’d meet me there so I dropped the knife and ran.’

‘It was you.’ I stare at him incredulously. ‘You were the person Malcolm and Mandy saw running away? The man in the hoody?’

‘I didn’t want to run. I swear. You were screaming at me that you’d lost one son and you weren’t about to lose another. You seemed normal, Mum. If I’d known you were having one of your blackouts I never would have left you. Never.’

He is so big, so incredibly broad and strong, but I can see flashes of Jake as a child in his eyes. Jake who would cry the second I raised my voice because he was so desperate not to disappoint me or let me down. I’ve never seen him look so fearful.

‘Why was there blood on the knife,’ I ask, ‘if it just fell out of your pocket?’

Jake doesn’t meet my gaze. ‘It was his,’ he mumbles. ‘I gave him a proper going over. Pretty sure I broke his nose and split his lip. His blood was all over my hands.’

I stare at him in horror. ‘Do you have any idea how scared I was when I came round? I didn’t know where I was or what had happened. When I saw the knife I thought I’d stabbed someone. And you knew. You knew what had happened but you didn’t say a word when I got home. You pretended you’d been here the whole time. You even put the dishwasher on!’

‘I didn’t know what to do.’ He wipes the back of his hand across his eyes. ‘I was going to say something, I swear. But when I realized you couldn’t remember anything I … I thought it would be better to keep quiet. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.’

As Jake sobs I look across at Mark. He is shaking with anger.

‘Mark,’ I say softly. ‘Go back to the house for a bit. Let me deal with this.’