Elliott Mantel, along with her wife, Aki, a hotelier, was a well-known financier and philanthropist and close friend of Paul, Jules’s husband. They were so impressed by Jules’s home when they visited that they insisted she share the details of her interior designer, who was none other than Alice. It was a recent career move, interior design, her work at the auction house after her history of art degree not compatible with small children. She was used to compliments on her interiors and Jules and Nina had convinced her to give it a try. She’d worked on Jules’s place for free, to build up her portfolio, and was ecstatic to have the chance to work on the Mantels’ nursery renovation. It was a dream project, their space allowing for a bedroom and separate playroom, and their brief – a modern take on their American and Japanese heritage – fitted Alice’s style perfectly: playful and bold. The Mantels had seemed delighted when she finished, thanking her and saying they would recommend her and be in touch with further projects – would she be interested in trying her hand at some of Aki’s hotels? – but she’d never heard from them again. And, most importantly, she’d never been paid. Her first commission, and her work clearly hadn’t been good enough.

‘It was a great project to work on,’ she said, turning to Jules, hoping to smooth things over and remove the elephant from the room, but Jules’s eyes were closed. ‘Oh!’ she said to Nina. Then whispered, ‘She’s asleep.’

All the better, to avoid an awkward conversation. Alice felt too new to the design world to ruffle the feathers of such a high-profile couple. Better to go away quietly and hope she hadn’t blown her chances for any further work with Paul and Jules’s friends and clients. Their West London circle was a gold mine of opportunity for interiors work and she knew how to fit into their world. They liked her. Just not enough to pay her for shoddy work, evidently. That’s the problem with people like that. High expectations. Accepting only the best.

Hadn’t the same thing happened with Jules? She’d kept saying she had to pay her for all her hard work, but it never materialised, which was unlike Jules. She was so generous with her friends, gifting them tickets to shows and insisting on picking up dinner after a bonus. But perhaps with this she didn’t want to mismanage Alice’s expectations? Maybe her ideas were too high-concept; playful and bold but not liveable. The sort of schemes that give you a headache after five minutes. She wondered if the mural – a joyous explosion of colour: mountains and national parks, iconic landmarks and spring blossom – on the Mantels feature wall was being repainted right this moment?

‘I fancy a nap myself,’ Nina said. She appeared to be reading something, frowning and then making notes on her phone. ‘Do you remember when we used to have a power nap before going out?’