Both Mal and Frankie were looking to Leanne to say what they were all thinking. ‘Bryony Sutherland was the first to mention the rumours of an affair to me, and I’m convinced Claudia threw Phillipa’s name into the mix as a decoy. It was Claudia who was involved with Declan,’ Leanne said, shocked to hear the revelation spoken aloud. She had thought Claudia and Justin were the perfect couple, but it was all smoke and mirrors, much like the rest of Claudia’s life.

‘But if Claudia was with Declan, why wasn’t she in the CCTV footage of him running to the theatre?’ asked Mal. ‘He was caught on two cameras on the high street, and he was definitely alone.’

‘I don’t know the answer to that,’ Leanne admitted, ‘but I do know Claudia is devious enough to have made the extra effort to avoid detection if she were having an affair. And let’s face it, there’s a hell of a lot of other questions left to be answered, like why she went inside at all, risking the life of her unborn child.’

‘She might have gone in after the baby’s father?’ asked Frankie.

Mal didn’t blink. ‘Unbelievable.’

‘Are you still questioning my judgement?’

‘No, Leanne. I’d say you’re doing a fine job despite your interfering editor.’

Mal sat back in his chair and, the longer he looked at her, the more colour returned to his cheeks. He was fighting a smile. They all were.

26

Justin rested a hand on Claudia’s back. ‘Feeling better?’

She smiled in answer, not trusting herself to speak. No, she didn’t feel better, she felt sick to the stomach and the sensation had intensified the moment she had stepped across Phillipa’s threshold. Justin had been telling her that they should make the most of Phillipa’s company while she was still in town, but what did sweet, naive Justin know? She didn’t deserve him, but she suspected she did deserve whatever Phillipa planned to serve up that evening.

‘Not feeling well, dear?’ Robert asked. ‘You do look a little peaky.’

‘It’s nothing,’ Claudia said, slipping her hands beneath the dining table to hide her tremors.

‘What’s this I hear? Are you coming down with something, Claudia?’ Phillipa asked, arriving in the smaller of their two dining rooms. She carried a platter of salmon terrine on a bed of endives, supplied no doubt by professional caterers.

The smell of fish made Claudia’s stomach heave. If she had known it was going to be an intimate dinner party for four, she would have cried off. She had been left drained and exhausted by Leanne’s impromptu visit earlier in the week. Her worst fears were being realised. The truth was being revealed, one lie at a time.

‘Honestly, it’s nothing,’ Claudia said, smiling sweetly.