‘That’s the plan,’ replied Leanne, attempting a smile.

As he waited for the kettle to boil, Justin added scoops of ground coffee to the French press Claudia had hidden away, but his attention remained focused on Leanne. ‘What other stories are you working on?’

‘Ones that will give our readers a sense of the needless loss that night,’ Leanne said, not making the articles sound nearly as positive as Mal envisioned.

‘I was telling Leanne there won’t be a shortage of heroes with stories to tell.’

Justin turned to his wife, spoon in hand. The two locked eyes, and he seemed unaware of the coffee grains raining down onto the floor tiles. ‘If that’s the case, she needn’t look further than this room.’

The air became charged, and Leanne straightened up. ‘What do you mean?’

Claudia pursed her lips as if she were about to object, but with a sigh, her shoulders sagged. She left it to her husband to explain.

‘Claudia was meant to be a mystery shopper that night,’ Justin began. ‘Phillipa gave out complimentary tickets to all her friends for different shows. She wanted feedback on their experience.’

‘Friends?’ Leanne asked, seizing on the contradiction with what Claudia would have her believe.

‘I was very much at the bottom of her list,’ Claudia said. ‘I was sent along to the only amateur performance in the theatre’s schedule.’

‘She wasn’t happy,’ added Justin playfully. ‘She didn’t even get seats in the VIP area.’ He grimaced. ‘Sorry, that sounds crass, given what happened.’

It did sound crass, but Leanne knew what he meant. She hadn’t seen the attraction of spending an evening watching a group of school kids prancing about on a stage either. ‘None of us knew what was going to happen.’

He sighed. ‘If only we had known. Claudia had two tickets, but I was working late and she went on her own. I could have tried harder to rearrange my schedule, but the first I knew of the fire was when I was driving home and a couple of fire engines sped past.’ Justin lowered his voice, but Leanne heard it crack when he added, ‘I should have been there for her.’

‘What happened?’ Leanne asked, directing the question back to Claudia, who wouldn’t meet her gaze.

‘I was no different to anyone else. The evacuation started off so calm and orderly,’ she said, repeating what so many others had said at the time. Not one person had suspected the alarm to be anything more than an inconvenient fire drill. ‘I was in the stalls and headed out the way I’d come in, but there was a long queue. When the ceiling collapsed and the lights went out, people started screaming and scrambling on top of each other.’