She drops the teaspoon she’s holding. It lands with a bang on the white granite work surface. “What about him?”

“He’s dead. He lived on Elmhirst Road in Spilling. Near me.”

“Yes, I knew that.”

“Really?” This strikes me as unlikely, yet I can’t see why she’d lie about it.

“Not the road name, but I knew he lived in Spilling. I read his column about how he had to leave London because there were too many ugly people in it. Of all the places he’d ever visited, the Culver Valley contained the most attractive women, so he was moving there.” Melissa spins around to face me. “And that’s why you moved there, isn’t it?” she asks with a tremor in her voice.

“So that I could meet attractive women? No.” I laugh to disguise my discomfort.

“What’s Damon Blundy got to do with your side mirror?” Melissa asks as she puts my mug of tea down on the corner of the table farthest away from me. I have to stand to reach it.

“He’s been murdered. Elmhirst Road, where he lived, is on my route to the kids’ school. It was full of police yesterday. They spotted my car, asked me how long I’d been driving without a side mirror. I told them it had only just been snapped off that morning.” Who’d have guessed it was possible to come up with so many variations on the same lie? “I thought that’d be it, but they got all serious on me, wanting to know if anyone could back up my story, asking who’d been in my car and how recently—”

“And you mentioned me? Thanks a lot.”

“I didn’t want to mention anyone, but I panicked! I didn’t feel comfortable lying once I realized I’d brushed up against a murder investigation. Don’t . . .” I raise a hand to stop Melissa from stating the obvious. “I knew I’d lied already, about the mirror. That’s why I didn’t want to make it worse. I wish I’d told them the truth from the start.”

“Then why don’t you? You still could.”

“Or I could stick to my story and you could back me up?” I offer her what I hope is a winning smile with lowlights of appropriate humility. “If the police believe I genuinely lost my mirror only a few minutes before they saw my car on Elmhirst Road, I’m pretty sure they’ll let me off. I told them I was going to take the car to the garage as soon as I’d dropped off Ethan’s gym bag at school, and look.” I pull the keys to my rental car out of my handbag and wave them in the air. “I rented a car to drive here, like a good responsible citizen.”

“How can you live like this, Nicki?” Melissa squints at me, as if I’m forcing her to look at something gruesome she’d like to turn away from.

Me. I’m that thing.