‘You don’t take painkillers, Katherine – you never have since your car crash. Your personal pain is a penance for the hurt you’ve caused, and you wouldn’t fall off the wagon so easily. So why do you have a bottle of powerful painkillers? I’m thankful for them, by the way, but they’re not yours. Oxy is the drug most doctors get hooked on, right? It’s powerful and it’s not too hard to get in a hospital.’ I shook the bottle and the pills clattered accusingly.

‘I took them from Sofia’s chalet,’ Katherine said. ‘I don’t give a rat’s about refunds. We couldn’t leave early because Sofia needs to be here. And she needs all four days. She’s detoxing.’

Everyone turned to look at Sofia, pale and tired. She simply hung her head in shame.

‘Her health has been deteriorating the longer she’s gone without the pills. Her hands have been shaking, for one thing,’ I said, recalling her rattling coffee cup in the bar. ‘She’s been vomiting, pale and sweaty since yesterday morning.’

I’ll interrupt myself here to head off a possible complaint. I’ll clarify that I never said you shouldn’t pay attention to Sofia’s vomiting in Chapter 7. I just told you it didn’t mean she was pregnant. I will not be accused of hoodwinking.