She loudly called out ‘Julia!’ again, then slipped past Jane and screamed out, ‘Are you deaf?’

Jane was left sitting alone for a while, until eventually Julia, in an extraordinarily bright quilted dressing gown and fluffy slippers, walked in with a mug of coffee. She didn’t look happy to see Jane.

‘I don’t want to talk to you because you’ve got me into an awful lot of trouble. You had no right to repeat what I’d told you. I’ve felt ill and I’ve not been able to go to work today because he is going to talk to my father, and my father has already threatened to stop my allowance. It’s all your fault.’

‘Julia, I don’t have very long to talk to you, but what I do have to say is important.’

‘Well, what I have to say is just as important,’ Julia pouted. ‘I asked you not to say her name and you did, didn’t you? I’m no longer friends with her anyway but that’s not the point. The point is her father got in touch with my father and has been telling him terrible things that I have absolutely nothing to do with. Now, this morning, I have to go and see him. You have no idea how angry he can get. The next thing I know I’ll be sent off to some dreadful finishing school. Anything to get rid of me. And this is all because of you.’

Jane made every attempt to control her temper. ‘Julia, I’m very sorry if I have inadvertently got you into trouble. The fact is, you could actually be in a great deal more trouble. I could be taking you into the station for questioning with regard to supplying underage girls for sexual favors in exchange for money.’

Julia’s jaw dropped. ‘I don’t believe a word of what you’re saying, and I don’t know what you’re accusing me of.’

‘You could be accused of running a prostitution ring.’

Julia’s face drained of color. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Let me try to make it clear for you, Julia. The modeling agency, KatWalk, would supply girls for film premieres, in many instances guaranteeing they would meet stars and directors. I believe some of the girls were under sixteen, but with promises of possible starring roles, these naive young girls were taken advantage of.’

Julia was heaving for breath as if she was having a panic attack.

‘Take a deep breath, Julia, and just listen. If you are helpful to me now I may not have any charges pressed against you. I am aware you encouraged your school friends to join the agency, girls like Annalise.’

Julia stopped heaving for breath, but her hands were shaking so badly she had to put her coffee mug down on the floor beside her.