Claudia raised her gaze to the skies. Thinking time presumably. ‘If you must know, there was a mix-up at the box office and someone was already in my seat when I got there. I didn’t want to cause a fuss so I sat somewhere else.’

‘Where? Was it in the same row?’ Leanne knew it couldn’t be. Every other seat in that row had been occupied, she had checked.

‘I don’t recall. It was in that general location,’ Claudia said, her voice clipped.

‘Could you be a little more specific?’

Claudia’s eyes shone. ‘Are you suggesting I wasn’t there?’ she asked, her words scratching against a constricting throat. ‘Because if that’s the case, maybe you should go back and speak to the witnesses who were ever so keen to tell you that they’d seen me. I don’t know what your problem is with me all of a sudden, but this is getting silly. Whatever your game is, please stop.’

‘You’re right, let’s stop playing games, Claudia. I don’t dispute that you were at the theatre at some stage, but I don’t believe that you went into a burning building to save Amelia. So tell me, what were you doing?’

Claudia’s eyes were no longer shining, they were shimmering with tears. ‘I’m getting back in my car and I’m driving through the gates, whether you’re standing in front of them or not.’

‘That’s OK. I think we’re done,’ said Leanne. ‘Thank you for your time.’

Walking back to her car, Leanne didn’t look over her shoulder to watch Claudia drive away. The car’s loud revs told her all she needed to know. She had rattled Claudia, and that felt good. She was still mulling over their conversation when she heard her phone ring.

‘Where the hell is your update on the McVey case?’ Mal demanded. ‘You were supposed to have it over to me first thing this morning.’

‘I’m working on it,’ Leanne lied as she slipped behind the wheel. She closed the door gently so her editor wouldn’t work out that she was in her car.

‘Finish it,’ he hissed. ‘And then get into the office. We need to talk.’

25

Leanne skulked past Mal’s office in the hope that he wouldn’t notice her arrival. She had submitted her copy, or to be more precise, she had cobbled together the required wordage.

‘What’s wrong with Mal?’

Frankie looked up from her screen. ‘Nothing that I know of.’

‘Ah, so it’s just me he’s got it in for,’ Leanne said, hoping it was only her missed deadline that had riled him.

Her friend grimaced. ‘I’d say we’re about to find out.’

‘When did you get back?’ Mal asked before Leanne had a chance to turn around fully.