‘Erin’s husband was there too. He was the one who made the allegations against Nick, and he admits it was out of spite,’ Tara said. ‘From what I’ve heard today, I don’t doubt that Nick was weak and selfish, but he wasn’t a thief. And he certainly wasn’t violent.’

As April fidgeted next to Tara, Faith wondered which of her friends would burst into tears first. They were out of their depth, unlike Faith. She controlled her emotions, they didn’t control her. ‘You weren’t there. You didn’t see the way he looked at me,’ she said, voice trembling.

‘Two hundred pounds? I don’t want this,’ Nick said, lifting his gaze from her iPad. His eyes widened in shock. Faith had picked up the knife while he was distracted, and held it to her own throat.

‘You said you loved me, but you lied.’

Nick had been immobilised by shock but Faith’s wails forced him into action. He lurched forward. ‘But I do love you!’

‘No! Keep away from me!’ she cried, pressing the blade against her skin.

‘For God’s sake! Will you just—’ he said, edging closer.

‘Stop! Leave me alone!’

Nick was within touching distance, but to Faith’s relief, he didn’t attempt to wrestle the knife from her grasp.

‘No!’ she cried out, following it up with a blood-curdling scream that had nothing to do with Nick’s actions and everything to do with Faith’s audience. She hoped to God someone was listening.

‘OK, OK,’ Nick said softly. ‘Whatever you’re about to do, don’t. Please, Faith.’

‘Admit it. When you joined the group, you were sniffing out the money. You picked the richest widow and you thought that was me,’ she said, keeping her tone as low as his so only they could hear.

‘Please, put down the knife.’

‘Admit what you did.’

Nick’s mouth fell open in horror as Faith scored the blade gently across her flesh. Blood trickled down her neck. ‘Fine!’ he said. ‘I’ll admit anything!’

Faith lowered the knife and allowed Nick to take it from her. She felt a sense of victory as she watched him place it on the counter. Her neck stung, but it had been a clean cut and would heal in time. Her work was done.

‘It’s easy for other people to judge, but you don’t know what you’re capable of until you’re thrust into extreme situations,’ Faith said to her friends. ‘Nick was playing me and maybe he admitted what he did to intimidate me. I was defending myself, that’s all. You know that.’

‘Do we?’ April said, having recovered her power of speech. She met Faith’s gaze only briefly before looking towards the window that had been open that day. ‘I never heard Nick laughing at you. I didn’t hear him say much at all except that he loved you.’