I scrape my chair back and stand, gripping hold of the table for a moment. ‘You should have called for an ambulance. Maybe they could have saved her!’

‘It was too late, Zoe.’

My brain races and the room swirls while I try to make sense of what my husband is telling me. I don’t think I can take it all in. He’s saying that Dina died ten years ago. Ten years ago!

‘So… she really is dead. My sister is dead.’ I sit back down heavily. ‘I can’t believe it. How am I going to tell Dad?’

‘You can’t tell him.’ Toby gives me a hard stare. ‘You can’t tell anyone.’

I don’t see how I’ll be able to keep this from my father. But I realise something else isn’t adding up. ‘Why is your brother freaking out about this? I mean, if all this really happened, and you’ve both known about it for ten years, then why is he falling apart now?’

‘Because he helped… afterwards.’

‘Helped?’

Toby grimaces. ‘With your sister. We had to get rid of…’ He pauses and winces. ‘… her body. It was our wedding night – I couldn’t exactly get away – so he did most of it.’

I think about what this must have entailed and break out in a queasy sweat. ‘How…? I mean where did you…?’

‘She’s buried in that patch of ground by the woods.’

‘You mean…’

‘Yes, where the new housing development is due to be built. That’s why Nick’s been panicking recently. He’s sure they’ll discover Dina’s body, and they’ll link her remains to the three of us. He’s the one who encouraged Madeline to start up a petition against the development. But now the appeal’s been rejected, they’ll probably break ground soon.’

‘Wait a minute, why didn’t you just call the police in the first place? From what you’ve told me, it was self-defence, so surely they would have understood. I mean, if someone comes at you with a knife, you’re within your rights to defend yourself.’

‘I know, but I was pretty traumatised. We didn’t know if the police would believe what had happened. Maybe in hindsight it would have been better to call them and explain, but we made a judgement call in the heat of the moment, and we’ve had to live with that decision. I didn’t want you to go to prison for protecting me from Dina. I couldn’t take the risk.’ Toby’s voice breaks. ‘I love you so much, Zoe. I’d do anything to keep you safe.’