Mark and Stephen had several heart-to-hearts after we found out what had happened to Billy. Stephen admitted to being jealous of Mark for forging his own career and having a family. He said he couldn’t bear how ungrateful he seemed, despite having so much and that he wanted to take him down a peg or two. Mark is still angry but I think he’ll forgive him, eventually. It’s not as though he hasn’t said and done things he regrets.

‘And Jake?’ Sonia asks, ‘How is he?’

I look down at my hands. ‘He’s very quiet. He was really angry when it all came out, when he found out what had happened between Kira and Billy. He threw out all her stuff. He was going to burn everything in the garden but Mark stopped him. That first week was … it was awful.’

‘I can imagine.’

I twist my wedding ring round and round the finger of my left hand. ‘He hates her but there’s a part of him that misses her. He won’t admit it but he does.’

‘Where is Kira?’

‘Living with a distant relative on the outskirts of Bristol according to DS Forbes. He said they’re considering prosecuting her for perverting the course of justice.’

‘And how do you feel?’

‘About Kira or the verdict?’

‘Both.’

‘Misadventure.’ I pull my wedding ring clean off my finger, then push it back on. ‘It’s such a strange word to describe a death, isn’t it? It sounds like something fun that went horribly wrong. Although –’ I look across at Sonia – ‘maybe there’s some truth in that. Neither Billy nor Kira really knew what they were getting themselves into.’

‘Is that how you see it – that they were mutually responsible for what happened?’

I shrug. ‘I’ve thought a lot about that. At first I was too angry with Kira to think straight. I kept remembering all the times we’d talked alone since Billy’s disappearance, all the opportunities she’d had to open up to me about what had happened and all the times she’d lied. I wanted to charge back into the hospital and shake her and scream in her face that she’d destroyed all our lives …’

‘But?’

‘Then I started thinking about what Billy had done, the messages he’d sent to her. The police found his phone. Did I tell you that?’

She shakes her head.