‘I’ll get on to David Knox, you know, Head of Fine Art at the college? He’ll tell me the right person.’

‘Fabulous. Thank you so much, Molly, I knew I could rely on you.’

‘Relying on me is one thing, but Thea, you can’t just run off…’

‘Actually, Molly, I already have. Do you think you could be sweet and collect my rent for me, and pay it into my bank? It’s the one on the corner. The account’s in my name. You’re a doll.’ Thea rang off, thanking Petal for her unconscious lessons on how to manipulate people.

Susan came into the room just as Thea got off the phone. She was about twenty, with clear, freckled skin, curly eyelashes and hair which formed tight little ringlets round her hairline, above her high forehead. Thea thought she would have been divinely pretty, had she not looked at her with such suspicion. ‘I hope you don’t mind me staying.’ She wanted to soften Susan’s brittle surface. ‘I’ll try not to get in your way.’

‘It’s Rory I’m worried about. He doesn’t usually take time away from his work to pick people up from the airport,’ she said, her head thrown back. ‘He doesn’t often have people staying in the house, either. He likes to work undisturbed. Usually.’

This break in routine was clearly all Thea’s fault. She tried to look like someone who would never disturb Rory, not even if there was a fire.

‘So, what do they call you, then?’ said Susan. The ‘and why are you here’ was unspoken, but just as clear.

‘I’m Thea. I came to stay with Rory last night. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. He didn’t know I was coming. And I didn’t know he was behind with a commission, or I wouldn’t have come.’ Thea wasn’t quite sure this was true. ‘I’ll look after myself. I won’t expect him to take me sightseeing or anything. And I’ll try not to make more work for you.’

‘I don’t mind work.’ Susan gave the word emphasis to make clear it was Thea she objected to, not a bit of extra washing up.

‘I did do the dishes from last night.’ Thea sounded like Petal trying to placate her landlady.

‘I saw. And cooked a meal, I suppose.’ She gave Thea a look as near to a frown as she could manage without being too obviously rude. ‘I usually cook something and leave it for Rory to heat up. It was my day off yesterday.’

‘Oh, well, he said he was planning to go to the pub, but as I was tired I decided to make a meal instead. You know how it is, it’s sometimes easier to peel a few spuds than it is to put your make-up on and go out.’

‘I don’t wear make-up,’ said Susan.