‘Call me: I’m in a meeting but I’ll come out. Do not go near Kattan again. We need to speak NOW.’

I threw the phone back on the seat beside me and put my foot down.

Rain clouds were travelling fast across the horizon, gathering darkness as they moved nearer. Verdi played on the car radio; something dramatic and tragic that I didn’t know. It suited my mood.

The housekeeper answered the door.

‘I’ve come to see Maya.’

‘She’s not here.’

‘I’m sure she is. I just spoke to her.’

‘I think you’ll find—’

Maya ran down the stairs. ‘It’s all right, Miss Ellis, she’s a friend.’ She suddenly looked dubious. ‘You are a friend, aren’t you?’

‘Of course.’

A doubtful Miss Ellis retreated reluctantly. Maya, it had to be said, looked slightly deranged: barefoot, in a white vest and jeans, her arms tattooed with unicorns on one side, a rainbow and what looked like a pentangle on the other. She presented a completely different picture from her previous glamour.

‘I don’t have much time,’ she said, dragging me into the house from the doorstep, peering over my shoulder anxiously. Her face was free of make-up for the first time, huge shadows beneath her limpid eyes, her hair wavy and mussed. The wind moaned through the great oaks behind us and I stepped inside, pulling my jacket tighter. None of the lights were on and the old house was dark and gloomy.

‘Look, I was worried about talking about Nadif yesterday.’ She led me into the vast drawing room, speaking quickly, frenetically even. ‘But I’m a virtual prisoner, and I want people to know the truth about my father before it is too late. He is a tyrant.’ She lit a cigarette with a gold lighter; there were scratches on her shaking hand. ‘He is a tyrant and a murderer. But you, Rose,’ she looked at me and her bloodshot eyes were blazing, ‘you can tell the world the truth.’

I had found my old dictaphone in the glove box; Alicia used it sometimes for her singing. I pulled it out now, placed it on the coffee table between us. Maya eyed it suspiciously and then shrugged elegant shoulders. She seemed slightly glazed by her obvious misery.

‘Nadif had such ideals. No one understood. They didn’t understand.’

‘Who?’

‘My dad. His yobs. They just used him until he couldn’t say no. And then they tried to use him to get to me.’

I was lost.

‘Maya, hang on. Can you slow down a sec?’

‘You know my father has been hoping to be awarded a peerage?’ She slumped on the sofa, ash dropping onto the floor. ‘It looks doubtful now, but he thinks there’s a chance he might have a seat in the House of Lords soon.’