Lindsay drove back in silence, replaying the confrontation like a tape loop. Somehow, there had to be a way for Helen to get what she wanted out of the mess Lindsay had helped create. She was operating on automatic pilot, her eyes focused on the tail lights of Helen’s car in front. At junctions where the car had to come to a halt, her mind seemed to go into free fall, the street and the traffic dissolving into the vile and vivid images she’d absorbed from Stella and Guy’s videos. They had only seen short bursts, but it seemed to have saturated her visual cortex, becoming the wallpaper on which everything else was superimposed. Take away the outside world and all that was left were the writhing bodies and her impotent anger.

She was reunited with Helen on the doorstep. “A stiff gin and a bath, that’s what I need,” Helen said wearily as she fumbled her key into the lock.

“A Scotch and a shower for me,” Lindsay said, following her indoors. “At least you’ve got a shoulder to cry on.”

The living room appeared to be empty, though Lindsay wasn’t prepared to commit herself. As far as she could tell, there might be a tribe of pygmies living among the detritus. Tonight, though, she was too tired to care. They went through to the kitchen in search of drink and found Kirsten and Meredith either side of a bottle of red wine on the kitchen table. Kirsten looked up expectantly, but seeing their faces contented herself with a quiet, “Oh dear.”

“ ‘Oh dear’ doesn’t even scratch the surface,” Helen said wearily. She walked round the table so she could see Meredith. “We haven’t met, have we?”

“This is Meredith,” Kirsten and Lindsay said in ragged chorus.

Meredith smiled. It looked tentative as a first rehearsal. “You must be Helen,” she said. “I’m sorry to invade your personal space like this, but I really needed to talk with Lindsay and I didn’t want to wait till she checked in tomorrow morning. This has been kind of a difficult week, I guess you know.”

Impulsively, Helen stepped forward and hugged Meredith. “You’re all right here,” she said. “It must be a complete bastard, what you’re going through.” She stood back. “You’re welcome here any time, whether Lindsay’s here or not. You need a bit of company, just get yourself round here. Okay?”

Looking slightly stunned, Meredith nodded. “I thought you English were supposed to be reserved and standoffish?” she asked with a more relaxed smile.

“She’s not English, she’s from Liverpool,” Kirsten remarked drily.

“A far-off country of which we know little,” Lindsay added.