Celia takes Dina’s limp wrist and feels for the pulse she already knows will be absent. ‘I’m sorry, Zoe. She’s gone.’ She looks up at her son. ‘What happened? Who is this?’

‘They’ve been having an affair!’ I blurt out. ‘My sister and my fiancé. Your son! They’ve been seeing each other behind my back. And now he’s killed her! We need to call the police.’ I glance around and spy the hotel phone on the desk by the bay window. I walk towards it, scared about what will happen once I’ve made the call.

‘Zoe, wait.’ Celia comes after me.

‘For what?’ I snap. ‘My sister is dead, there’s nothing left to wait for. Toby is a murderer. An adulterous murderer. He needs to pay for what he’s done.’ I pick up the phone and dial 999. Celia tries to whip the phone out of my grasp, but I duck out of the way, moving further from the window.

‘Let’s just talk about this calmly.’ She advances on me again.

‘I know he’s your son, but you can’t protect him from this. That’s my sister!’

‘Just give me the phone, Zoe.’ Celia’s voice is steely, her eyes like two chips of flint. This is a side of her I’ve never seen before.

Nick is questioning Toby, who’s standing in the middle of the room, his head in his hands. I think he’s crying.

Before my call has a chance to connect, Celia snatches the phone from me and hangs up.

‘Give me that back!’ I try to pry her fingers off the phone, but she has too tight a hold. In a moment of desperation, I bite down on her bony knuckles.

‘Hey, stop it!’ Nick cries. But he doesn’t try to intervene, just takes a step uselessly towards us.

‘Zoe, what do you think you’re doing?’ Celia shoots me a venomous glare, wrenches her hands away from my mouth and gives me a vicious shove. My dress is so tight and my heels so high that I can’t keep my balance. I can feel myself toppling backwards. My hands flail out to the side to try to grab hold of anything to steady my fall. But they find nothing but air.

Thirty-Two

NOW

The absolute shock of remembering makes me briefly forget my current situation. I stare at Celia in horror. She pushed me! She knocked me out cold on my wedding day.

I feel sick to my stomach.