Rosie’s face lit up. ‘I love a good box set! But not those nature docs – they’re brutal. I do not want to see another baby seal being mutilated while I’m eating my Pot Noodle.’

But Thea was hardly listening. In her mind she was back at the monastery walls as the daylight slunk away, looking up at a flicker of movement in the window.

Harriet tapped on her tablet a few more times and then stood up, clapping her hands once for order.

‘Okay, everyone. Let’s make a start.’

Thea saw Ethan mutter something to himself. Harriet turned and smiled at him.

‘Let’s start with you, Ethan,’ she said brightly, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder with slightly more vehemence than was needed. ‘Everyone, this is Ethan’s space. Ethan, tell us why you’re here.’

‘Because you’re paying me.’ He crossed one ankle over a knee and studied a fingernail. Rosie’s description of him as a Ken doll wasn’t so far off the mark, Thea thought, except a Ken doll had a happy smile painted on his chiselled face.

‘Yes. How droll.’ Harriet narrowed her eyes. ‘I meant, why can’t you sleep? You have nightmares, yes?’

‘Ooh! We have something in common!’ Rosie whispered excitedly to Thea.

Ethan switched his concentration to something on the sole of his shoe.

‘You have no trouble going to sleep but then are woken up by the nightmares and can’t fall asleep again. Am I correct?’

Ethan put his foot back down and, for a moment, just sat there with his hands on his knees, staring at the floor. Then he stood, quickly fixing Harriet with a challenging stare.

‘Sorry, Harriet. Got to go to the bathroom. You’ll have to start with someone else.’

He walked off and Harriet pressed her lips together firmly, as if trying to stop herself from saying something. She took a deep breath and then switched her smile back on.

‘So? Anyone else like to start?’

Luckily, hands went up. Thea couldn’t remember many of the others’ names apart from a couple. One of them was Moira, a middle-aged woman with thick, round, owlish glasses. She went sleepwalking almost every night. ‘Which is scary because I live alone and what happens if I manage to get the front door open? Once I even made myself a peanut butter and jam sandwich, completely asleep!’ She yawned. ‘And I don’t even like peanut butter and jam! But at least I know why I can’t ever lose any damn weight …’

Thea recognized tortoise-Richard from the lecture – the man who had nodded off. There were big dark smudges under his eyes and he was so softly spoken that everyone had to lean in a little to hear him properly.