‘That you’d been in an accident. A hit-and-run, they said.’ She shook her head. ‘Shocking. I did wonder why you hadn’t turned up in O’Dea’s, but I assumed you’d forgotten. You have been a bit absent-minded recently. Anyway, I met some friends, so I was okay.’ Putting the empty plate down, she picked up her tea. ‘The police wanted to ask me if I knew anything about this man you’d met, and if I’d told anybody you’d be running that morning.’ She put her tea down, untouched, and looked sombre. ‘They wanted to know if I knew of anyone who wanted to cause you harm. It’s so odd, you know, you hear that question asked in crime dramas all the time. There was something so unreal about it.’ She shook her head. ‘Of course, there was nothing to say. You’re probably the most inoffensive person I know. I told them you were almost strait-laced and that it was totally out of character for you to come on to any guy never mind some stranger you’d bumped into while out on a run.’

There was silence for a moment. Molly felt her friend’s eyes on her, inquisitive, puzzled. She picked up her tea and drank it, waiting for her to speak.

‘They don’t really believe you were involved with his death, do they?’

‘They might have done before someone tried to kill me, but I don’t think they do anymore.’ Molly smiled as her friend’s mouth sagged. ‘It wasn’t an accident, you see,’ she explained. ‘Someone deliberately tried to push me under a car. It was lucky that I wasn’t killed.’

‘Someone tried to kill you?’ Amelia looked at her in horror. ‘Seriously? But why?’ She got to her feet, paced the room and turned to look down on Molly. ‘This is crazy. Why on earth would anyone want to murder you?’

Bizarrely, Molly almost felt insulted, as if in Amelia’s estimation she wasn’t important enough to be murdered. A wave of weakness rushed over her. She really couldn’t handle any more. ‘I’m sorry, I’m going to have to ask you to go, I need to lie down.’

Amelia rushed in with apologies. ‘Of course, I shouldn’t have stayed at all. I only wanted to make sure you were okay.’

Right at that moment, Molly wasn’t sure of anything except she felt weak, she needed to go to the loo and she wasn’t sure she’d manage on her own. ‘I need to go upstairs,’ she said, her words slurring slightly. ‘We don’t have a downstairs loo and I’m not sure I’m able to get up without help.’

‘Oh, Molly, you poor thing!’ Amelia took her arm and helped her to her feet.