“What did he do, Tess? Did he fuck you? Did he rape you in his dusty old torture chamber? Did he whisper what he did to those other girls as he slipped his hand under your shorts?”

My hand flies out to slap her and she grabs my wrist, squeezing it until I cry out.

“We were there to defend you, you little bitch. We were there to find evidence that he was a kiddy-fiddling serial killer.” She laughs. “You think it was just you? He tried it with me, he tried it with Bella. If he’d had the opportunity, all of us would have been dead, more of his victims. You did the right thing, killing him.”

“But I didn’t…” I step back, stumble over a chair.

“I told the police. I told them everything. You’ll be okay. Even with the phone they found, you can tell them it was self-defense.”

The whole world is spinning. Her words, her relentless words…did I? Was it me? Was it? I don’t understand…she won’t shut up. Keeps saying it over and over—it was you, Tess, you did it. But I didn’t, I wouldn’t…

Wait. How does she know about the phone?

No. It was Bella. It was my sister, with Max and Lena. I saw the look on her face when I told her my lies. That awful burning anger, the recoil of disgust. She told me he tried to kiss her and I was jealous. Not concerned, jealous. She came home that night, she got into my bed, and I knew something was wrong. I should have kept asking, should have made her tell me, but all I did was add fuel to the fire. Was it more than a kiss? Her clothes were torn and she was shaking and…He’d already tried something with her and I let her think he’d been abusing me. She went round there full of rage and I might as well have been there with her because it was me that sent her there.

Lena steps closer and my heart is pounding. We both freeze as car headlights brighten the room. I shove past her and run down the hallway. Jack and Sean are getting out of Jack’s car.

“Where’s Dad?” I say, stopping short and turning to look at Max and Lena.

“He’s fine. He’s at home, sleeping like a baby,” Max says. “We called Jack and Sean. They deserve to know the truth about what happened to their father. Isn’t that why you’ve asked us all to come here?”

I shake my head. “But I didn’t. You brought me here. I was sleeping and I woke up in your car.”

Max frowns. “No, you asked to come here, Tess. We thought you wanted to confess—to tell us the truth before you told the police.”

But…