‘I know.’ Again, the words in the silence. What if I was wrong? What if Karen was not the first woman he’d hurt? But I couldn’t believe that. Mike and the kids and this house were all I had. I had to fight for them, until someone could come to me with clear and undeniable proof and say, Look, Ali, your husband is a bad man. You thought you had chosen so well, but surprise, you did exactly what anyone would have guessed you’d do.

‘Do you remember anything else from that night?’

Bill hesitated, and I knew he was thinking of the same thing as me. What he’d almost said to me, on the lawn, as dawn broke. His hand in mine. For a moment, I thought he was going to say it. Instead, he said: ‘Nothing useful. Come on, we should eat. The kids will be hungry.’

The next morning, at the police station, Adam Devine moved through the pictures with gentle hands. I had a feeling he’d have liked to be wearing gloves. ‘I’m not sure I understand, Mrs Morris.’

‘I just wanted to show you. What she’s like. Karen. She’s been with so many guys – married men, even.’ It wasn’t coming out right. I tried again. ‘I know that it’s not – that it shouldn’t be a factor. I just want to show that she does this kind of thing. She lies. She’s been lying to me the entire time I’ve known her.’ So had Mike, of course.

‘Mrs Morris – this would be a matter for Mike’s barrister, when you have one. It’s not our decision to prosecute, it’s the CPS’s. And they felt able to proceed.’

‘But if they knew this – if they knew Mike and Karen had an affair for years, wouldn’t that make a difference?’ Again that cool look of his. I could feel the judgement behind it. ‘Look, I know what you must think of me. I know she’s my friend. But he’s my husband, and I don’t, I just don’t believe he could do this, and I can’t stand back and let him go to prison. We have kids.’ Kids who’d be kicked out of their school, and possibly their house, if this didn’t end soon. ‘Could they drop the charges? Does that happen sometimes? If they decide she lied about it?’

‘Sometimes. OK, why don’t you give me a statement anyway about the pictures, and we’ll take it into consideration.’ His large, sure hands gathered the pictures in, and I felt as if I’d handed him our younger selves on a plate, Karen and Mike and me. Back before any of this had happened.

Cassie