They were back in the Doggetts’ sticky, cramped living room. Octavia had looked around at a couple of the boxes and piles of clutter, but found nothing but old toys and used food packaging. Maybe they were planning to recycle all of it eventually.

“It’s going to be a smash hit,” said Russel, “You’ll see. People have been waiting for a return to the simpler things. Not everything has to be post-modern and clever-clever.”

Tamsin gave him a tight smile. “Drink your tea.”

Russel obeyed. “A smash hit.” He grinned. “And you won’t be forgotten in all this, Octavia. Executive producer- how does that sound?”

“If you like,” said Octavia. She’d noticed that Russel was slurring his words a bit. She didn’t think she’d seen him drinking anything, but maybe he’d asked for a shot of vodka in his tea.

He raised his mug, as if in a toast. “Couldn’t have done it without you. And we’ll forget about old what’s-his-name, right?” He winked at her.

“If you like,” she repeated. She’d have expected Tamsin to pick up on what Russel had just said, but she hadn’t acknowledged it at all. Just carried on staring at him.

Russel elbowed Tamsin. “We’ll be moving somewhere better than this dump soon, eh, Tam? You might get to make friends with Girls Aloud after all, eh?”

“Mm.” There was something strange about her face. Something tight and tense.

“We can send Avery off to one of those big private schools.” (Avery was currently at his grandmother’s- Octavia still hadn’t met him. Sometimes she thought that Russel and Tamsin didn’t actually have a baby at all, just a recording of one crying that they played every time one of them wanted to leave the other alone with guests.) “We can… We can buy a property on the Costa Brava…” He was definitely stumbling over his words. “Somewhere on…” He trailed off. His eyelids were beginning to droop.

Tamsin watched him for a few seconds, as if to check he wasn’t going to continue his train of thought. Then she turned to Octavia. “You’re not drinking your tea.”

Out of nowhere, Octavia remembered something Tamsin had said a couple of weeks agio. I’d started to play games and cause trouble in our relationship. Maybe she should have asked Tamsin what exactly she’d meant by that. “Hm? Oh, I’m just waiting for it to cool down a bit.”

Tamsin’s brow furrowed. “Drink. It.”

Octavia looked back at Russel, whose eyes were completely closed by now. Dead to the world. She looked Tamsin in the eye, and set her mug down on the table.

“Drink it,” said Tamsin, through gritted teeth, clicking her tongue with the ‘t’s, “If you want to leave this house alive, you drink it.”

“What did you put in it, Tamsin?”

“That’s not what you need to be worried about. Drink it!” Tamsin looked sharper, as if her nose, chin and cheekbones had all suddenly been filed to points that could take your hand off if you weren’t careful. And Russel had thought he could call her pathetic in public and then drink tea she’d made an hour later. He must have been mad.

Then again, what did that say about Octavia? She’d been about to drink the tea, too.

“Sounds a bit like something your husband told me last week,” she said, conversationally, “I’m not the one you need to worry about. He wasn’t talking about you, but maybe he should have been.” She smiled.

Octavia had hoped- stupidly- that a bit of flattery might help Tamsin calm down, but no such luck, because the next thing she knew Tamsin had taken a knife out of her pocket. It was a little, old-fashioned letter-opener with a delicate silver handle and pretty carvings around the edges, but that didn’t make the blade look an less dangerous. Especially not when Tamsin reached out and pressed the flat side against Octavia’s neck.

Tamsin took a little breath, like a schoolgirl preparing to give a presentation to the class, and sad, “If you drink your tea, I might call the ambulance in time for them to come and pump it out of your system. If you don’t, you get this in your throat, and I won’t.”

Octavia’s mind went to the same place it always did in situations like this. She’s bluffing. There’s no way she’s actually prepared to use that knife. But it wasn’t as much comfort as usual, because Tamsin didn’t need to be prepared. She could cause a fatal injury just as easily by accident as on purpose.

There was only one thing to do. Octavia lifted the mug to her lips and took her first sip.

(To be continued)