“Sure.” Bryce nods. “That was Wilton’s idea. He thought he could get a few million out of him.” He shrugs. “Wasn’t so easy. You Brits are tight.”

“You’ve been using us?” Suze lashes out suddenly at Alicia, whose face has gone from mauve to a kind of deathly white. “All this time you’ve been pretending to be my friend—and all you wanted was our money?”

OK, you have to admire Alicia. I can practically see the muscles of her face forcing themselves back into their old haughty expression. She’s like the Olympic champion of regaining control of yourself.

“I have no idea what Bryce is talking about,” she says. “I deny everything.”

“You want to deny these emails?” says Bryce, who seems to be enjoying himself now. He holds out his phone to Suze, who looks helplessly at Alicia. “Wilton wanted me to target the pair of you,” he tells Suze, “and Alicia knew that.” He swivels to Alicia. “Didn’t you just meet up with him in Tucson to talk about it?”

Tucson?

OK. So I take it back about Tucson. People do have meetings there. Who knew?

The muscles in Alicia’s face are working hard again; in fact, there’s a spasm in her cheek. Her eyes are like two livid stones. She draws breath, then rounds on Bryce.

“We are suing your ass,” she spits at him, so vituperatively, I shrink back.

“So it’s true.” Suze looks totally dazed. “I can’t believe it. I’ve been such a fool.”

Bryce looks around the whole group and shakes his head. “This is fucked up. I’m out. It was fun playing with you, babe,” he adds to Suze, and she shudders. “Becky, come back to one of my classes some time.” His eyes crinkle in that sexy smile of his. “You were making some good progress.”

“I’d rather rot in hell,” I say fiercely.

“Your choice.” He seems amused. “See you around, Alicia.”

With a couple of strides of his long legs, he’s gone. And the rest of us are left in silence again. It’s like an earthquake has happened between us. I can practically see the dust in the air.

“Becky knew,” says Danny at last, breaking the quiet.

“What?” Suze’s head whips round in astonishment.

“I didn’t know….” I amend hurriedly.

“She guessed Alicia was up to something,” Danny maintains. “She’s been watching your back, Suze.”

“Really?” Suze raises her huge blue eyes to mine, and I can see a fresh pain in them. “Oh God. Oh, Bex. I don’t know how I could have thought Alicia was anything but a wicked, two-faced—” She turns on Alicia with sudden passion. “Why did you even come on this road trip? To make sure Bryce got the cash out of me? And who were you meeting in the Four Seasons? Not a private detective.”

“Suze, there’s something else,” I whisper with urgency. “You need to beware. I think Alicia is after Letherby Hall.”

“What do you mean?” Suze takes a step toward us and away from Alicia. She’s eyeing Alicia warily, as though she’s a bomb that might go off.