‘There’s nothing in here you don’t already know,’ she says, eyes narrowing to tiny slits behind her glasses. ‘Ask away, go on, if you have any more questions. But I think you and I both know that you’re a smart cookie, aren’t you, Carly? I think you know that aspects of this plan could still change, of course, if you remember anything else between now and the end of the trial…’

Mugshots swim on the table in front of me. The same mugshots I’ve stared at a thousand times. A load of faces I never saw, and a few I’ll never forget. A finger taps the same one it always taps.

‘I told you, I never saw him. Ask Rach,’ I mumble, searching for my star on the floor. Eight o’clock. And there’s Jesus at two, dying all over again.

‘Try to forget about Rachel. This isn’t about her, it’s about you, Carly, and about the rest of your life. Think about that. It’s about the rest of your life, and everything it could be. Think again, now. Is anything coming to mind? Anything at all?’

I shove the papers at her without looking at them. There goes another fly, hissing as it buzzes out.

‘Well, then.’ There’s the click of a pen and a scrabble of paper. ‘There’s still time, of course. If anything were to come to mind.’

‘How much time?’ I say, counting the points of the star. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. There’s the little scratch that could be a sixth, except it isn’t. ‘You keep saying everything’s nearly ready for me to go, and then out comes the line-up again.’165

‘Tomorrow,’ she says. ‘We’re ready to move you out tomorrow. OK? It’s all finally come together: where you’ll work, where you’ll live, all your new papers and documents. I told you, you’re so nearly there…’

I look up, but instead of my triangle, I find her finger tapping a dotted line in the booklet.

‘So that’s it, then? After all this time, I just sign here and it’s over?’

Julie nods as my head swivels between them. Too late, I realise I’m crumpling Kayleigh’s face in my hand.

‘That’s right,’ the policewoman says. ‘Sign here, and it’s over. At least, for now, anyway. No more hostel. No more hiding. No more reliving everything that’s happened to you. You can bury Carly Marie Gates along with everyone else. You can bury her forever.’

She holds out a pen, pointing it at my chest like a weapon as we stare at each other.

‘And we’ll make sure no one ever finds her. You can be sure of that.’