Sara blushed, flapped a hand, dismissing the suggestion. ‘God, no. But the point is, he was really shocked about the video. Honestly, he was. I’m convinced nobody could act his response. And I just felt… he was properly worried about me.’ She stared at the wall as she re-enacted the scene in her mind. ‘He wanted to go to the police about it. If he had sent the video to Matt, why would he suggest that?’ She rubbed her temples with her fingers. ‘God, my head’s going to burst with all this. I’m so confused. I don’t know what to believe.’

‘Look, we can theorise as much as we like, but what we need is evidence.’ Hailey had a determined glint in her eye. ‘We need to confront both of them – Matt and James – goad them into telling us more than they should, or even confessing, and make sure we’ve recorded the conversations. Even if it’s just a snippet when they’re off guard, hopefully that’ll be enough to go to the police and get this thing properly sorted.’

Sara blanched. ‘I can’t go to the police, can I? Not when I stole that money. I can’t risk it. We’ve got to sort this out without the authorities getting involved.’

Hailey’s jaw clenched, eyes closing for a moment. ‘I keep forgetting about that.’

‘Well, I don’t, because that’s what started this whole thing off. If I hadn’t been in debt to James, I wouldn’t have gone to that networking event and met that creep and then…’ She slapped her hands to her cheeks as a crystal-clear memory flew into her mind. The one that had been lurking on the edge, blurry and indistinct, avoiding being seen. Now it was so obvious, she wondered why she hadn’t seen it earlier. ‘The man with the ring! I do know who it was. Lewis. It was definitely bloody Lewis.’

Hailey looked confused. ‘Who’s Lewis?’

‘He was the organiser of the sales event. Sat opposite me on our table, kept staring at me.’

Her mind scurried around, gathering up all the little bits and pieces of memories and putting them together into a full picture. And when she looked at it afresh, she was drawn to a horrible conclusion.

‘What if the whole networking event was a sham, a front for something else? Bear with me if this sounds a bit off-the-wall, but it’s in my head now, so I’ve got to say it.’ She hesitated, hoping Hailey wouldn’t think she was being melodramatic.

‘Come on then, spit it out.’ Hailey frowned, impatient.