I can see straight into my neighbour’s window but she’s not there today. So I drop my towel, pull on my underwear and an oversized cream jumper, then a black pair of jeans. I pull my hair back into a loose pony and put on a pair of dangly earrings.

Then I head back through to the living room. Camilla is exactly where I left her.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask.

She looks up at me and I know immediately: something has happened. I head over to her. ‘What are you looking at?’ I ask, my pulse thumping like it already knows something I don’t yet.

‘I was googling Noah X and then I looked up Sabine Roux,’ she says, her voice small and fragile.

‘And?’ I ask.

‘I found this.’

She hands me her phone. It’s an article. The first thing I notice is it’s in English. I glance up at the URL. It’s from a UK tabloid. And the headline reads ‘Does Paris Have a Serial Killer?’.

I scan the text.

First a legal secretary, Matilde Beaumont, 28, was found dead in a forest to the south-west of Paris. Now, three weeks later, another body has been uncovered. This one belongs to a student at Parsons Paris, Sabine Roux, 22. Both women were attractive and in their twenties, were French nationals, disappeared in inner Paris, and were found strangled and laid out in parkland. What other similarities are there between these two cases? More details as we have them, but for now we’ll leave you with these terrifying questions: ‘Is this the work of the same killer? And, if so, who is next?’

A shiver runs through me.

‘What the hell,’ I say, swallowing hard.

‘What if it’s true, Harps? You were right there. It could have been you.’

‘It wasn’t a serial killer,’ I say. ‘It was Noah. I’m not saying he did it on purpose but I saw him go off with her.’

‘That doesn’t mean he killed her,’ Camilla says.

I frown down at the words. ‘He had two hours, a shit alibi and a reason to kill her. It was him.’

She’s wrapping her arms around herself now, like it’s cold. But it’s not cold in here, the heating is right up. ‘I’m just scared for you,’ she says.

‘It’s a tabloid. Last week they were probably announcing Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt had eloped before purchasing an avocado farm. Also, think about it: how many cases have you heard of where a girl was strangled and her body was left in a park? Tonnes, right? It’s not exactly a niche method. They just want to sell magazines.’

She gives a small nod and I sit down next to her.

‘So, what are we doing today?’ I ask, trying to change the subject.