‘Shame we can’t jump in the chopper.’ James stretched out his legs. ‘Best way to travel.’

‘It belongs to Ash Kattan,’ Callendar said, pulling away smoothly. The helicopter blades were slowing as I turned to take a final look at the house.

I saw a face at an upstairs window; I figured it was about where the bedroom I’d been in was. Just in time, I suppressed the urge to shout ‘Stop’.

‘Where is Maya Kattan at the moment?’ I leaned forward. ‘Do you know?’

‘For fuck’s sake, Rose,’ James hissed. ‘Just leave it.’

‘It’s just that Mr Kattan said he wanted her to meet us,’ I pressed on regardless. ‘It was a shame she couldn’t make the party.’

James took my hand and squeezed it so hard I winced. I glanced into the driver’s mirror as I sat back. Danny Callendar looked at me inscrutably.

‘I’m not quite sure where she is, Mrs Miller,’ he answered easily. ‘Perhaps she’s gone up to London for a few days. She often does.’

‘Why?’ I wondered who the man driving her silver Porsche had been. I wondered if I dared ask.

‘I wouldn’t know.’ His tone told me I would get no further tonight. He offered us a paper bag over his shoulder. ‘Lemon sherbet?’

We both declined.

Silence fell across the car. One thing was certain: I knew for sure I couldn’t do Xav’s story now. However much my appetite was whetted, I had to stay home with the children. I’d sworn for their sake I’d never do anything risky again; motherhood had to come first now, and the atmosphere in the manor didn’t bode well at all.

Leaning my head against the glass, I watched the tall hedgerows slide by in the dark, listening to the hiss of the tyres on the road. I was sitting beside my husband, but I was lonelier than I ever remembered being before I was married. I felt a strange longing for something I could not describe.

As we pulled into our drive, James’s mobile rang. ‘Cheers, mate,’ he thanked Danny Callendar as he picked up the call, sliding out of his side. ‘Good news, Liam. New backer in the offing, I do believe.’ My husband disappeared through the studio gate.

Before I could open it, Danny was already at the door.

‘I’m fine, really,’ I insisted quietly, but he held out a hand. Eventually I took it and looked up at him as I jumped down. I found I couldn’t smile.

‘Thank you very much,’ I said. My skin felt like it was burning where his hand touched me. For a split second his hand seemed to linger on mine, and then he was back in the car. I saw a flame through the dark window as he lit his roll-up, and then he was gone.

Chapter Five
GLOUCESTERSHIRE, MARCH 2008