‘Are you certain that Nick wasn’t having an affair?’

‘Absolutely certain.’

He sighs down the phone. ‘OK. Call me if you can think of any reason why he might have met this woman. And I want you to think hard about Nick’s behaviour over the last month or so. He may not have walked out on impulse, he may have been building up to the decision for a while. If he’s kept quiet about that holiday, there may be other things that he’s been keeping from you.’

‘Then why propose?’

‘I can’t answer that.’

Neither can I. ‘Can you do me a favour? Next time you can’t get hold of me, don’t speak to either of the Ritchies.’

I walk slowly downstairs and stand at the kitchen door with my hands on my hips watching Cora leafing through a newspaper until she notices I’m there. She looks up at me over her glasses.

‘I thought you were taking a nap.’

‘I’ve just spoken to Marsh. Apparently, he asked you to pass on a message. Why didn’t you tell me?’

She sighs. ‘I would have done, but the shock of being asked to leave put it out of my head.’

She goes back to the article she was reading, and I stand at the sink, bristling with resentment, before saying quietly, ‘You went behind my back, Cora.’

‘I did no such thing. Will you please calm down? You’re beginning to sound mad. I meant to tell you earlier, obviously, but you started having a go at us, so I decided it would be tactful to wait until you were in a better mood.’

I only hear the word ‘mad’. It takes me flying back to the worst night of my life, to the flat I used to share with Douglas. To a woman screaming that word at me, to blood pumping from a deep wound. I screw my fists up tight and leave the room, sit on the stairs and call Nick’s number to hear the recording of his voice. I check In-Step to see if he’s moved. He hasn’t. There’s a big fat zero beside his cartoon bird, as there has been every day since that Saturday. Below, I see that Anna isn’t moving either. So she’s probably at home. I need to talk to her again about that Thursday evening. I still think she’s the woman Evan saw, and I’m determined to prove it. It’s too late to go round there today, and I don’t want to broach the subject with Kai in the house. I’ll talk to her in the morning.

NICK

July 2000