Despair overwhelms me in that moment, as I know he’s capable of anything. A sob escapes me as I imagine Niamh left motherless and – far worse than that – being left alone with him. However much I want to be free of him, however wrong this is, it’s this side of him, his physical violence, which means I’m trapped.

Relaxing his grasp, he arranges his face in the facsimile of a smile. ‘But that would be too easy.’ Pretending to dust off my coat, he tucks my hand under his arm. When he speaks, it’s clear he’s enjoying himself. ‘It’s so much more fun watching you suffer.’

*

At home, I lock myself in my bathroom, carefully taking off my clothes and examining the red marks on my neck before applying concealer over them and pulling on a high-necked sweater. Andrew’s behaviour is growing more extreme. What will he do next time?

But my question is followed by another. Could Andrew have killed Hollie? Had she goaded him, forced him into a corner, pushed him too far? All those evenings and weekends, when Andrew’s been out, I’ve had no idea where he’s been. I’ve assumed he’s been meeting his lover. How convenient then, that the one person who could have verified his whereabouts is now dead.

Or did Hollie find out something about the porn business that James was involved in? Out of everyone in this village, there are two people I can imagine being capable of murder.

Having seen him lose his temper, the first is James Hampton.

The second is my husband.

I think of the way Andrew spoke about Phil Mason. The few times I’ve seen him, Mason’s presence has disturbed me. There’s a cold watchfulness about him. He gives the impression of a hunter in a world where the rest of us are fair game. After seeing him with James, then Andrew, and watching his iron self-control at Hollie’s funeral, I know he’s a man I want nothing to do with.

When I think back to how upset Hollie was the day I met her in the churchyard, I imagine her discovering the porn business James had invested in, what it would have done to her. It would explain why she was so agitated. Maybe she found out that Mason was blackmailing her father, then confronted him and so he killed her? I stop myself. All of this is wild speculation, but Hollie’s body was found in the grounds of Park House, just a stone’s throw from where Mason lives. It’s also not far from our house.

Suddenly I’m claustrophobic, thinking of Andrew again, then this village, Hollie’s murder … All of it is too much. Getting up, I pull on a jacket and go out.