Starlight in New York. Helen Cox

I suggested. I wasn’t telling her exactly what Jack had said, just hinting at it. ‘Everyone has a history. Some people are downright blocked when it comes to opening up about it.’

      ‘Yes.’ Mona eyed me. ‘Some people are indeed.’

      I rolled my eyes and tilted my head towards Angela, reminding Mona that this was not about me but the young girl in front of us, feeling lost.

      ‘You’re probably right,’ said Angela, though she didn’t seem convinced. ‘Anyway, I’ve gotta get off to work soon.’

      ‘What do you do?’ I asked.

      ‘I work just round the corner at Venus Athletics. I’m Junior PR Officer there. Got a big presentation this afternoon. Boss wants my thoughts on making VA the number one sports brand in the US.’

      ‘Oh, no pressure then.’ I laughed.

      ‘Oh don’t, I have zero ideas. It’s going to be a disaster.’ She counted out some money onto a saucer.

      ‘I take it the “sports brand of the gods” angle has already been done with a name like Venus?’

      ‘Yeah. Their last major campaign was all about loving sport. Goddess of love, etcetera. It’s just not sexy enough.’

      ‘Well, Venus was the goddess of desire too. Maybe you can create a campaign built around lust, rather than love? An Olympian lust, or something.’ I was just spouting rubbish, even more so than usual, but Angela paused.

      ‘That’s interesting.’ She pondered. ‘Thanks. I’m going to think on that. Oh, you won’t mention anything to Jack, will you? About what I’ve been saying?’

      ‘No, honey,’ Mona reassured her. ‘Sometimes you just gotta talk. We understand that.’

      I nodded and smiled. Great. Now I was keeping secrets for both of them? My lot in life, it seemed.

      ‘Guess I’ll see you guys later.’ Angela smiled, and with that she was off on a mission to change the face of Venus Athletics.

      ‘You don’t think we shoulda mentioned the wall-punching thing?’ Mona asked once she was sure Angela had gone.

      ‘No.’ I shook my head. ‘We don’t even know what that was about. It’s just none of our business.’ Mona raised both eyebrows and pursed her lips. She may not agree but it wasn’t our place to tell Angela anything. If Jack was hiding something then maybe, just like me, he had his reasons.

      I picked up a tray and headed to a table in the corner. Mona followed and helped clear the filthy pots strewn across it.

      ‘Hey,’ she said as we stacked plates slick with bacon grease. I looked up at her. ‘That friend of yours with the homicidal husband? It’s you, isn’t it?’

      My eyes widened. Oh God. I should’ve been expecting that. For Mona to put together the pieces. But I hadn’t. I’d been too caught up in Jack and Angela.

       Always prioritising the important stuff, Esther.

      ‘Well?’ Mona pushed. Was she really going to make me say it, out loud? That Mrs Delaney and I were … No. She didn’t need an answer. She could see the truth, and no doubt the colour draining from my face. I gave her the stiffest of nods. ‘But you said … you didn’t die,’ she added.

      ‘Didn’t I?’ My eyes lowered to the table, fixating on the dregs of a black coffee some customer had left behind. ‘Maybe not. Maybe it was just the woman I was who died. The woman I became when I married him.’

      ‘Your husband. Where’s he now?’

      I pressed my lips together tight. I’d have to tell her something here. Acting suspicious in front of someone married to a cop was a sure route to getting caught out.

       But careful, Esther. Careful.

      ‘He …’ Though I wrangled with them, the words rose like bile in my throat. ‘He’s dead,’ I whispered. Mona looked at me sidelong. ‘The real kind of dead. We bought a gravestone and everything.’ One that’s been hanging round my neck for two years. Its lead weight dragging me down into cold, empty places nobody else knows about.

      ‘Esther, what did he do to you?’

      I took in a sharp breath. My eyes filled with tears and my lips pushed tight against one another. Shaking my head, I picked up the tray and started towards the counter. Then I stopped.

      ‘Nobody can know any of this,’ I said, and then, making a gradual turn so I could look straight into Mona’s deep brown eyes, I added, ‘ever.’

      Mona gave me a reluctant nod.

      Turning my back to her once more, I marched off to finish loading the dishwasher.

       Chapter Eight