‘Oh Faith, it’s OK, you’re safe now,’ April said.

Faith grasped April’s arm. ‘I couldn’t believe the change in him. I told him I loved him, and I did, April. I did.’

April remembered hearing the distant shout. ‘I know.’

‘He said he wouldn’t leave unless I paid him. I tried to explain that I didn’t have that kind of cash, but he made me log into my bank account. I transferred what I could, but it wasn’t enough. That’s when he grabbed me and held the knife to my throat. He thought I had money squirrelled away somewhere, but I didn’t and he was so angry. When I felt the blood trickling down my neck, I fought back. I had to.’

‘I heard most of it,’ said the neighbour. ‘Help will be here shortly. You’re safe now.’

‘I should be the one who’s dead,’ Faith said as tears slipped down her face. ‘I don’t know where the strength came from, but I think my blood made his grip on the knife slippery. I got it off him and I …’ She clenched a hand into a fist and made a single stabbing motion before letting her fingers unfurl. ‘I had to do it. He gave me no choice.’

‘No one could blame you for this,’ April assured her, listening out for sirens but hearing only the distant hum of traffic. She glanced back into the hallway. ‘Someone … I should check on Nick. He might still be alive.’

‘All the more reason to stay out here,’ Mr Newton said. He wasn’t offering to go in her stead, they could both agree that he was no match for a man in his thirties, mortally wounded or not.

‘Can you manage without me?’ April asked Faith, taking hold of her hand and moving it to her throat so she could maintain pressure on the scarf pressed to her wound.

‘April, you don’t have to do this. He was definitely—’ Faith began, only to be interrupted by the sound of a phone trilling.

‘It’s Mum,’ Molly said. She was holding April’s mobile.

‘Let me take it,’ April said. She didn’t want to be alone when she stepped into the house.

‘Take this too,’ said the neighbour, handing April his golf club. ‘In case he is alive.’

April’s courage almost failed, but she kept moving. She connected the call as she stepped out of the bright sunlight and into the gloom.

‘Molly?’

‘No, it’s April,’ she whispered.

‘What’s happening? Where’s Molly? Is she OK? Please, tell me she’s OK.’

‘Molly’s fine,’ April assured her as she followed the trail of bloodied footprints. ‘She’s outside.’

‘What do you mean, outside? Where are you, April? Where’s Faith? Is she … Molly said there was blood.’