Don’t Trust Me: The best psychological thriller debut you will read in 2018. Joss Stirling

to find that out?’ I gesture to the two policemen who are watching our little meltdown. ‘Whoever it is certainly has a grudge against you, if the state of our bedroom is anything to go by. You need to ask yourself who hates you that much?’

      Michael turns away, dismissing me. ‘See, officer, she’s admitting it indirectly. Her doctor will tell you that much of Jessica’s paranoia is directed against me. She makes things up, like this ridiculous job she was supposed to have had. As for her case notes, you’ll never be able to work out what’s real and what’s fantasy from her words. No, I’ve had enough of it. After what you said to me on holiday, Jessica, this is the final straw. I want you out of here tonight. I want to press charges.’

      The policemen exchange looks. ‘But really, sir, there is no evidence,’ says my constable. ‘I can see how you might conclude she is responsible, but there’s nothing we can hold her on. If we found the missing things on her, that would be different.’

      ‘She stabbed the bloody mattress with a carving knife! That’s not the action of a sane woman! Then I want her sectioned. I’m ringing her doctor.’

      ‘Sir, calm down, please,’ says the cat-loving officer.

      I sit down, feeling so weary. Drew’s right. Michael is like my father after all. It’s his feelings, his life that matters here, not mine. ‘He’s not my doctor, Michael. He’s my psychiatrist, my therapist, but he’s really more your friend, isn’t he? I’m not going back to see Charles. He’s not impartial. He listens to you rather than me. I only got out from under his thumb because I started to say the things I know you wanted me to, but I’m done with that.’

      ‘See what I’m dealing with?’ says Michael, appealing to the officers in that awful man-to-man thing he does. ‘She’s even projecting her paranoid fantasies onto the expert who’s done so much to stabilise her.’

      The constable closes his notebook. ‘We’ll send a team round to dust for prints. Please don’t move anything in that room until they’ve given you the all clear. We’ll also take your prints for elimination purposes.’

      ‘Take my prints!’ Michael looks ready for another round of explosions.

      ‘They won’t be kept – it’s just a formality.’

      ‘But they’ll be in some database somewhere. It’s an infringement of my civil rights.’

      The policeman’s mood has swung from sympathy to annoyance. ‘We can’t do our job without collecting evidence. Are you saying you don’t want this investigated?’