‘Anyway, eventually you snapped out of your shock and started quizzing us both. I can’t remember exactly what you said, only that you were understandably upset. It’s all a bit of a blur. Dina kept insisting that I shouldn’t marry you, that she and I were meant to be together. I told her that she was deluded, and that the best thing she could do was to leave, and for us all to forget this ever happened. It seemed like she was finally going to do as I asked. She started walking towards the door, but at the last minute she turned and pulled a knife out of her pocket and held it to my throat.’

‘No! A knife? What the hell?’ I bring a hand up to my mouth and hold my other hand up to stop him talking while I try to digest this. I feel like I’m seriously going to lose the plot in a second. My eyes fill with tears as I try to get my breathing under control.

‘Zoe, are you okay?’

I can’t even talk. This is all insane. Finally, I manage to nod, and he continues.

‘It’s shocking, I know. She moved so quickly, I really thought she was going to slit my throat, but you saved me. You picked up this heavy glass vase of flowers from the table, came up behind her and smashed it down on her head.’

‘What?! No!’

‘She went down straightaway. There was glass and water everywhere – the floor was soaked. That’s when you slipped, fell backwards and smashed your head on the edge of the desk. You knocked yourself out. But I’m afraid Dina was already dead.’

‘I don’t believe it.’ I ball my hands into fists and shake my head. Toby’s story truly sounds like something from a movie, not something that actually happened in real life. ‘I know Dina was headstrong,’ I admit, ‘but she wasn’t crazy… or deluded. To say she pulled a knife on you… that doesn’t sound like anything she would do.’

‘Zoe, you hadn’t seen her for years. The Dina I met was… she was unpredictable.’

I think back to the last time I spoke to her on the phone; the demands she’d made of me. Deep down I know that what Toby is telling me is indeed entirely plausible, I just don’t want to admit it. Especially in light of Cassie’s revelation about Dina blackmailing her. If she could do that to someone she barely knew, then what else was she capable of? But I don’t want to believe any of this. It’s too much.

‘So why can’t I remember?’

‘You were out cold. I think the trauma and the knock to your head must have affected your memory.’