There was a lilt of amusement in Phillipa’s voice when she said, ‘Of course, if you insist, this is going to be a very short interview.’

Leanne waited a second or two, but it was a weak attempt at bravado. ‘Fine, I’ll keep it switched off, for now,’ she added as a warning. She tapped the screen and dropped her phone into her lap, all without rolling her eyes.

‘Well done. Now, I expect you’re wondering why I agreed to meet you,’ Phillipa began. ‘As you have no doubt realised, I have accepted everything the press and the public has thrown at me. Some have called the Empress Theatre my vanity project, and I wouldn’t disagree. It was, in many ways, a reflection of my personal aspirations.’

‘And now it’s a burnt-out ruin.’

Unflinching, Phillipa lifted her chin and stretched her neck. Her pose was meant to be superior, but the light coming from the sash windows emphasised dark shadows beneath her eyes that layers of make-up hadn’t dispelled completely.

‘I was willing to accept my punishment, whatever the findings produced, but two things have given me pause for thought. One of them is you. I take great exception to the ugly rumours you’ve been spreading about me.’

Leanne attempted to look puzzled for a moment. ‘Oh, sorry, do you mean what I said about your affair with Declan Gallagher?’ Her heart was hammering in her chest. She couldn’t tell yet if her previous attack had pierced Phillipa’s Achilles heel, or stabbed a hornets’ nest.

There was a spark of anger in Phillipa’s eyes that relit her features. ‘In the last twelve months, there is only one person who has stood by my side, one person who never doubted me, who made me believe that we could endure this, and that man is my husband. We’ve been married for almost twenty years and I would never cheat on him.’ She pointed towards the door that Robert had disappeared through earlier. ‘I adore that man and, while I can accept the attacks on my character, I won’t stand idly by and let you debase my marriage.’

‘You can’t blame me for—’

‘People like you think it’s a game. You tell one person and they pass it on to the next, then the next, until one day Karin Gallagher is screaming in my face. That was the second thing that happened. The final straw. I will not let this go unchallenged.’