Abi put the sticks down and untangled herself from behind the kit. It was a beautiful sunburst vintage Ludwig, shallow toms and snare but still packing a punch. Dorothy was a little embarrassed at how much she loved the kit. It was a material thing, after all, but the craft that went into it and the purpose it served made it something more.

‘Thanks, Mrs S,’ Abi said. ‘And, you know, sorry about Mr S.’

Dorothy paused for a moment. ‘See you next week, Abi, and remember to listen to some of Janet Weiss’s other band, Quasi, she really lets herself off the leash with them.’

Abi pointed both her fingers at Dorothy like guns then left, and Dorothy stood in silence. She got behind the kit, picked up the sticks and started a country shuffle, throwing in offbeats and trills. She swung it onto the ride, opened her body, splashed around the cymbals and toms every few bars. She was trying to feel what Abi felt a few minutes ago, but all she could think about was Jim lying in ashes two floors beneath her, Rebecca Lawrence and her missing husband and ten-year-old daughter, all the money Jim paid her over the years, the secrets that money represented. Her drum fills now were too much, trying too hard, exactly what she told Abi not to do. But she did it anyway, trying to lose control, trying to lose any sense of herself and feel part of something bigger than her own stupid worries.

It didn’t work.

70People never thought about how hard it was to dress a corpse. The pants were relatively easy, but even then, getting one leg in then the other was a pain. The bra was a fiddle, rolling Gina’s body onto her side so Dorothy could fasten it up the back. The tights were the hardest part, lifting and turning, squeezing and massaging. It was a two-person job, and while she and Archie had it sussed, it was still a hassle. Gina was to wear a red dress, but the material was sheer and Dorothy worried it might catch on one of the staples that pinned the lining to the coffin when they tried to get her in. They did the arms of the dress first with her lying down, then sat her up and pulled the dress over her head and down her back. They laid her down, then Archie lifted the small of her back as Dorothy pulled the dress over her bum, straightening out the hem at her knees, adjusting the straps at the shoulders and bust, making everything symmetrical.