‘I’m sorry I had to lie to Madeline. But it was to cover up the truth. Nick has had a hard time dealing with this recently and he told her he was keeping a secret for me. I told her you’ve been having an affair, because that was the first thing that jumped into my head. She must have mentioned it to her friend Kim, and maybe some of the other school mums, which is why you and Alice were being snubbed. I really am so very sorry about that. I made a bad judgement call telling her that lie.’

I take in his words, but they offer me no comfort whatsoever. If anything, they make me feel worse. A swell of anger gives me a boost of energy. ‘That’s great, so the whole school thinks I’m a slapper, and on top of that you’re accusing me of murder. You better have a fucking good explanation for all this. Toby! I need you to tell me the God’s honest truth about my sister and why you think… why you think I would ever hurt her.’

‘Okay.’ Toby pauses. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you what happened.’ He takes a breath. ‘So, Dina came here to the hotel on our wedding day.’

‘She was here? She made it to our wedding? She told me she couldn’t come. I thought she didn’t care.’

‘Zoe, can you just let me tell you what happened, without interrupting. It’s… it’ll be easier to get through it that way.’ He shifts in his seat.

‘Okay.’ I twist the hem of my dress in my lap, the green satin crinkling and creasing as I wait for Toby to give me answers to all the questions tumbling around my brain.

‘The thing is, I knew Dina was back in the UK. I’d got in contact with her to get her here in time for the wedding as a surprise. I knew how much it would mean to you to have her there.’

My heart swells at Toby’s thoughtfulness. But then it judders when I think about the supposed outcome of her visit.

‘My plan went badly wrong. I met up with your sister a few times to plan when she should arrive and how she should surprise you. She was funny and charming, and told me lots of cute stories about you both as children… I guess you could say we hit it off.’ He pauses and wipes his forehead with the cuff of his shirt.

This doesn’t sound like the Dina I knew. My sister was always quiet and sullen. But then I guess I hadn’t seen her for years. Maybe she’d changed. ‘Go on,’ I prompt, wanting to know, yet dreading hearing the details.

Toby swallows. ‘Like I said, things went a bit pear-shaped. Dina… she… well, she made a pass at me.’

‘She what?!’