“I see. So that was all bullshit.” His voice is stiff, expression back to the scowl I remember. It’s defensive, that look of his—I’ve got to know him enough in the last few weeks to realize that. A part of me wants to smooth his ruffled feathers, tell him I do mean what I said, but…I don’t know him. The enforced intimacy between all of us, it’s not real. We’ve been thrown together, stripped bare by Julia’s illness and death, Greg’s body being found, but none of it is real.

Max is watching us from where he stands with Lena and his parents, immaculate in his black suit, hair swept back, handsome and perfect. But the tingle, the thrill I used to feel whenever I saw him, is completely gone. We’ve all changed, we’ve all grown up except Bella, who hovers invisible on the periphery, permanently eighteen, stuck in her skinny jeans and tank top, unable to stop bleeding, unable to stop being dead.

“Have you had that film developed?” Sean asks in a low voice.

“Not yet,” I say, trying to keep my tone casual. Is it him in the photograph? No, that doesn’t make sense. He was the one who gave me the camera in the first place.

It’s not finished, Bella says.

I bite my lip. She’s standing right next to Sean, her arm touching his. I don’t even have to close my eyes to see her anymore. She’s crept into my waking world. It makes me think of her sleeping with Max when I dreamed of him being mine. It brings coils of jealousy rising to the surface. My dead sister stands next to Sean and I’m jealous. Of course it’s not finished. But I don’t know how to end it.

Bella leans forward. Wake up.

Wake up? I am awake, I am. I’m always awake.

I walk back to the house ahead of the others to take plastic wrap off the plates of sandwiches, make sure the kettle is full and the wine chilled. I’m glad I do because Detective Levinson is waiting outside the house.

I frown. “You do realize it’s my stepmother’s funeral today?”

“I’m sorry. I won’t be a moment—it was you I wanted to speak to.”

He follows me into the house, hovers as I put sandwiches and sausage rolls out on the table.

“We’ve spoken to people who told us about the relationship Greg Lewis had with Nicole Wallace.” He pauses. “Your sister was named as well. As someone who was close to him.”