When Tara turned, her face was as grey as the walls. ‘Faith is my friend and there’s no one better I’d want fighting my corner. I love her like a sister,’ she said. ‘She can be brutally honest sometimes, but as it turns out, she can also be deceitful. I would never say this to anyone else, April, but I’m scared that I don’t know her as well as I thought. She cut a man’s throat for God’s sake.’

‘She was defending herself.’

‘But was her reaction proportionate? I’m not saying she put the knife in Nick’s hand, but holding a knife to someone’s throat and using it are two very different things. What if the cut on Faith’s neck was accidental? I’m not condoning what he did, but when Faith disarmed him, why couldn’t she simply back away? Help was close at hand.’

‘But her attack on him wasn’t exactly frenzied,’ replied April. ‘Nick had one small stab wound to his neck as far as I could see; it just happened to be in the exact place where it could do most damage. And you can’t blame Faith for expecting the worst when Nick had told her he liked making money out of dead people. She had a right to be scared.’

‘But was she?’

The sense of dread Tara had described pressed down on April’s chest. ‘What do you mean?’

‘The police could come to the conclusion that her fatal strike was controlled and measured,’ she said, concentrating on the one aspect of the attack that ought to put their minds at ease. ‘Did Faith look upset when she came out of the house?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘And what about when you told her Nick was dead?’

April’s discomfort intensified as she pictured the scene after leaving the kitchen. Faith had remained on the doorstep with Mr Newton crouching next to her and Molly standing nearby. When April told them Nick was dead, the old man had clutched his chest. Faith’s reaction was slower.

‘Faith had her back to me,’ she said.

‘Molly said she smiled.’

The icicles forming on April’s spine made her shudder. They had all witnessed the events unfold from a slightly different angle, and only Faith had the complete picture. ‘All I remember is that it took a moment for the news to sink in and then she sobbed.’

‘You know, when Faith joined the group, it was months before I ever saw her cry. It was like she learnt how to grieve from us.’

‘You’re always telling us we find our own way to navigate our feelings,’ April said. ‘And if Faith smiled, it could be she was traumatised. It’s hard to imagine what went on in that house.’

‘But from what you saw and heard, did Faith’s version match yours?’