‘I’ll get water and some washing up liquid,’ Renata offers. As she heads for the kitchen area, Kate takes several steps back upstairs, hiding out of sight in the curve of the staircase. A silent rage builds in her chest as she listens to Caroline taking charge and the others kowtowing to her every instruction. They still think she’s Joy – sweet, bumbling, fat little Joy with her stupid jumpers and her simpering smile. Kate tightens her grip on the small, white card in her hand until the edges bite into her palm. She found it in Geraldine’s coat – a business card bearing the name Caroline Harding and, in a smaller font beneath it, the word ‘Journalist’. The urge to say something, to shove the card into Geraldine’s face when the group returned to the lodge for their packed lunches, was almost more than Kate could bear. She’d had to take a walk, after doling out the paper lunch bags, so she could scream into her coat in the woods.

Afterwards, she began to think more clearly. Confronting Geraldine was a terrible idea. Not only was it bad form to confront a guest in front of the others, but there was also a very real chance that Geraldine would simply deny that the business card was hers. There were social media links in the bottom left hand corner – Twitter and Facebook – but the photograph on Twitter was of a woman with a hat tipped over her face and on Facebook the photo was of a small, black cat. Googling didn’t help. No photos of Caroline in the search results and her LinkedIn profile had a blank space where the photo should have been. No, Kate decided, a much better idea was to put Geraldine in a position where she couldn’t deny the fact that she was journalist Caroline Harding. There was a mobile number in the bottom left of the card, above a Gmail email address. She’d ring the number, Kate decided, but it had to be at the right time, when she could see the expression on Geraldine’s face.

Back at the house, she delved deeper into Caroline’s life. She read some of her articles, including one about the financial perils of being freelance. Maybe she could buy her off to stop her publishing her story? Depending on how much Caroline demanded it could mean they wouldn’t make a penny from the retreat and Kate would have to temp for the next few months just to pay the rent. But it would be worth it if it meant SoulShrink wasn’t completely destroyed.