“Life got in the way. Please.”

Tess sighed. “I’m not sure I should tell you this…”

“You said you’d done more than see them.” Scott felt like he was chasing a bone. “What did you mean?”

“It was a horrible thing. She cursed at me. She told me to never tell anybody what I’d seen.”

“Who cursed at you? Natalie? The one with the black hair? The tall one?”

“I can’t remember,” she snapped. “One of them. I know that much. One of them shouted at me and I thought it was very unnecessary. I have every right to walk down my own street.”

This had happened years ago. It made sense that she wouldn’t remember all the specifics, but Scott felt like she was holding something back.

“What happened?”

“And this is between us, yes? Just us?”

“Yes.”

Another lie. Scott would use whatever ammunition he could get his hands on. He’d fire it right down Casey’s throat to make her back off. He’d choke the bitch.

Of course you will, big man. You can do anything.

“I’d seen them many times in the park,” Tess went on. “They’d walk hand in hand under the trees. They’d often linger near the hangman’s tree, kissing, holding each other. I thought it was quite romantic, truthfully. To see love like that… I’m sorry, I never knew she was married.”

“It’s fine.” Scott’s throat was tight as he thought about all the times Natalie had turned away from a kiss, told him she was too tired, said she wasn’t in the mood. She needed her space. She was stressed at work. But she’d been saving it for somebody else. So many arguments made sense now. “So they looked like they were in love…”

“They were in love,” Tess said. “I was with my Alfred for fifty-two years. I know love when I see it. I had no ill will towards them whatsoever. That’s what made it so shocking.”

Scott waited. In the background, a cat meowed, then another. He imagined her sitting in a rocking chair, by the window, peering out onto the street as dozens of cats lazed around her.

“I’d run out of milk, so naturally I left to get some. On my way home – it was late, perhaps almost half past nine, and it was dark – I happened to see them at the end of the street, near the entrance to the park. They spotted me. And then one of them came marching across the street. She screamed at me, waving her finger in my face, telling me to mind my own business. I only had a little look. That was all. It was rather uncalled for, in my view.”

“Do you think you’d recognise them, if I showed you photos? I could send you some right now.”

Scott couldn’t imagine Natalie screaming at a stranger. She never snapped like that in public. But Casey was a drugged-up lunatic; she was making no effort to hide her use. He could imagine her behaving in that way.