‘I tried to stop her.’ Victoria’s voice had dropped. ‘I said I’d take her home, but she – I couldn’t get her to leave.’ Guilt saturated her tone. It had been our creed back then – make sure your friends get home safe. Call them a taxi. Always our responsibility to keep ourselves safe, never the men’s not to hurt us.

‘It wasn’t your fault. The thing is, the whole business seems to be surfacing again. I guess because they never caught the guy.’

‘Why now?’ she frowned. I knew that, as soon as I left, she would likely Google Mike and find out the whole thing. Word of it would spread through our college network, over email and Messenger, whispered in City wine bars and at sporadic birthday meetups until everyone knew: I’d married a rapist. Unless I could turn this all around.

‘I don’t know. A cold case thing, maybe.’

‘And what can I do?’ Her manner had cooled so much I felt chilly.

‘I just need to see what you remember. Try to – piece it all together, I guess. It’s so hard to recall every moment.’

She relaxed a fraction. ‘I know. I find myself reliving it all the time. How did I manage to lose her for so long? You know, you’re drinking, you’re having fun, and before you know it three hours have gone by.’

I nodded. ‘It’s all such a blur. When did you last see her?’

She squinted. ‘I guess it was in Main Quad. She was dancing with a whole crowd of people and I saw her stumble, so I said maybe get some water, yeah, but she wouldn’t. You know, Christian had broken up with her that week and I think it was the first time she’d ever been turned down for anything. You remember Martha, she was so lovely, but nothing bad had ever happened to her. It was a shock. So she was drinking – a lot, for her.’ She glanced at me. ‘I did see her with Mike at one point, in there – the Fellows’ Garden. I remember because – well, he was usually with you.’ She would have noticed, as others did, that Mike and I weren’t together at the ball. She’d maybe have seen our altercation on the lawn. Perhaps she’d even have speculated as to what Mike was doing with me in the first place, when I’d give up and realise it was just a dalliance for him. I didn’t ask if it was Victoria who told the police Mike had been seen helping Martha into the garden – any number of people might have done that.

‘How was she then?’

‘Pretty drunk. I tried to take her home but – she wouldn’t. She wanted to stay.’ Victoria shrugged, but I saw the weight of guilt on her. If only she’d insisted harder, Martha would maybe still be alive.