‘I see those other bad boys have slunk off,’ Olivia said. The two of them stacked plates and dishes next to the sink. In the big, old-fashioned kitchen Olivia chatted about practical things. ‘The chicken can all go together in this dish – yes, lassi in the fridge, please. I’ll just put a plate over this rice . . .’

She turned suddenly from the table, the rice giving off a whiff of cardamom, and gave Anna a cold, appraising look.

‘You’re different from her, aren’t you?’

Completely taken aback, Anna said, ‘Am I?’

But there was no follow-up remark. Olivia turned back to cover her rice as if the exchange hadn’t happened.

‘It’s here!’ Krish’s voice came from the hall.

‘Ah, go now!’ Olivia said, apparently all charm again. ‘Don’t keep it waiting – they charge so much nowadays.’ There was a sudden sense of hurry now the taxi had arrived.

‘Do come again soon. Please.’

‘I’ve got to pick up my car tomorrow,’ Anna pointed out.

‘Of course. Good.’ In the hall they kissed each other, briefly, and Anna watched her glide away, the plait a slice of black down her back as the harsh blue of the sari disappeared into the long room.

Krishna was out at the front. As Anna came out he stepped over to her, took her by the shoulders and kissed her clumsily on the mouth, his lips taut and painful on hers.

He gave a foolish grin. ‘Sorry. I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing here. But it’s lovely to see you.’ And he was gone.

As the taxi took her through the dark streets she felt more and more uneasy. The odd, cold look Olivia had given her, Jake’s warning, Krishna’s drunken kiss – these were the things which now stood out from the evening. Caution, Kate had warned. Yet she had been so quickly beguiled. She must in future be more on her guard, even if she had no real idea against what.

On Kate’s inner doormat she found a roughly folded sheet of pink paper: a note scrawled on the back of a flyer advertising cheap carpets.

‘Came over to see you as you won’t answer the bloody phone. What the hell are you playing at? Call me. Richard.’

Chapter 33

Olivia’s house was quiet next morning. Sean let her in and she waited with him in the kitchen where he carried on working his way through last night’s washing up, his back to her and thin elbows stuck out at angry angles.

‘Have you been left to do it all?’ Anna exclaimed. ‘Here, let me give you a hand.’

He was turning to speak when the voice cut across from the doorway. ‘No. Leave him. Sean’s quite happy to do some work for me this morning, aren’t you, darling?’ Sean plunged a pile of bowls into the water with the force of someone trying to drown a puppy.

Turning to greet Olivia, Anna actually let out a gasp. Her hard, calculating tone accompanied another transformation so startling that she took a few seconds to manage the words ‘Good morning.’