‘Neither of you saw Leah earlier this evening?’

The uniformed policeman standing in the living room was studying them both with impatience, his left eyebrow raised in a question mark. His colleague was waiting by the doorway, as though expecting one of them to attempt an escape. Jamie wondered why they were being treated with such suspicion, although as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he realised how naïve that was. Of course they looked suspicious. First Keira, now Leah.

He sat forward on the sofa and rested his head in his hands. A part of him felt like crying, but the last thing he wanted was Tom seeing that. ‘No, I didn’t see her. I came home from work, had some dinner, watched TV for a bit and went to bed.’

‘And you?’ The policeman turned his attention to Tom, who had been uncharacteristically quiet since the police arrived.

‘I was at the police station all day.’

‘About?’

‘Keira, of course.’

‘What time did you leave the station?’ the policeman asked.

‘About nine thirty.’

‘And you came straight back here?’

Tom shook his head. ‘I went to the pub for a bit. Then I came home.’

‘So what time was that?’

‘About eleven.’

The policeman walked to the front window and pushed back the closed curtains. ‘You didn’t see Leah at all when you got back here?’

‘No.’

‘Is she OK?’ Jamie asked. ‘Is she going to be all right?’

‘We’ve not heard anything from the hospital,’ the policeman standing in the doorway told him. ‘By all accounts she was in a bad state going in, though.’

Jamie sat back on the sofa and pressed his fingers against his temples, one eye on Tom. Tom was lying – he was always lying – but Jamie didn’t know what about. He couldn’t understand why he might lie, not now. He felt a swell of sickness pass through him. Tom had argued with Keira just before she died. The atmosphere between Leah and Tom had been fraught for days, and Jamie didn’t think it was just because of what had happened on Sunday. Thinking back on things now, he realised they’d been weird around each other for weeks.

‘Do you know who was driving the car that hit her?’ he asked. He stood up, tiredness and anxiety making the room sway around him. He glanced down at Tom, not wanting to look at him for too long.

‘Not yet, no.’

‘Is there anything we can do?’

‘Not for now,’ the first policeman said, moving away from the window. ‘If you think of anything, though, make sure you let us know. You can call the hospital in the morning – they’ll tell you how she’s doing.’

Jamie saw the two officers to the front door, then returned to the living room. ‘Did you see Leah tonight? Why did you lie to them?’

Tom stood from the sofa and crossed the room. He squared up to Jamie, so close that Jamie was able to smell the alcohol on his breath. ‘I’ve been at the station all day.’

‘And why’s that?’ Jamie challenged, fuelled by an unexpected moment of bravado. ‘What did you do to Keira? Did you push her from that ledge?’

Tom gripped him by the shoulders before shoving him aside. ‘You’re fucking pathetic. Still pining over her … She wasn’t interested, you know that?’

‘What would you know?’ Jamie mumbled.

Tom turned back and shoved him for a second time. He wrapped a hand around Jamie’s throat and pressed him against the wall, and in that moment Jamie’s short-lived bravery fell away from him. ‘She didn’t seem too bothered about you while she was riding my cock six weeks ago.’

He raised a fist and pulled it back, and Jamie flinched, closing his eyes instinctively as he braced himself for the punch. It never came. Instead, Tom drove his fist into the wall, inches from the side of his head.

Jamie watched, breathless, as Tom left the room, slamming the living room door shut behind him. Like so many other moments in his life, he wished he’d been braver. He wished he’d fought back.

He had never hated anyone the way he hated Tom. His words rang in Jamie’s ears, taunting him. Would Keira have slept with Tom? Jamie couldn’t be sure. Tom seemed to have a way of getting what he wanted; in the same way that Jamie’s life had a habit of serving up constant disappointment. Whatever had happened between them, Jamie now felt sure of one thing. Tom had killed Keira. He couldn’t work out how, but he was probably responsible for what had happened to Leah too.

He sank on to the sofa as another thought enveloped him. Did that make him next?