And she did not answer it. She came round on the Tuesday evening anyway.
And in those nine days I told three people what she had done. My husband, my sister, and a woman at work who did not need to know anything about any of it.
And in all three tellings the shape was the same: my best friend had been intercepting my post for two years and hiding my son's letters from me.
Which is true in every particular and is not what happened.
My sister said something on the phone on about day four that I did not want and that I have thought about every week since.
She said: "Derv. Why did she have your key?"
And I said because she does the post.
And my sister said: "Right. And who asked her to do the post in September 2023?"
And the photograph in the plastic wallet, which I have not mentioned and which I looked at before I read a single letter.
