Canned laughter blared out into the subdued silence of the house, as Harry put the TV on in the living room. Did Harry know John was up to something? she wondered miserably. Did Paula? She hadn’t seen her sister-in-law since the anniversary party, in fact, which was odd – usually the two of them caught up fairly regularly for coffee, or a chat on the phone. Was she keeping her distance deliberately? Robyn fretted. If push came to shove, John was Paula’s brother after all, just as he was Stephen’s. She was pretty sure she knew where the family loyalties would lie.

More canned laughter came from the living room – HAHAHAHAHAHA – and the sound of Harry chuckling along, too. Robyn’s heart raced with anxiety as she wondered if there was anyone she could talk to about this, anyone at all. Her mum – no. Having always made such a thing about the Mortimers and how much she loved being part of their big family, it would require a huge, mortifying loss of face for Robyn to confess that this same family might actually be closing ranks against her now.

In terms of finding out what had happened with John’s job, the university probably wouldn’t tell her anything she didn’t already know, either; they would build a brick wall of confidentiality, if she tried poking around for any more information. Which meant that the only person who might be able to help was Beth Broadwood, the mum from school who’d let slip the news about John losing his job in the first place.

Oh God, thought Robyn miserably. It would be so humiliating, though, having to go to another woman – a woman she didn’t even really know very well – in order to beg for some squalid little titbits about her husband. She wasn’t so desperate as to stoop to that, was she?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA went the television again, and Robyn sighed heavily into the quiet hallway.

Was she?

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Bunny had been at the absolute end of her tether, that was the thing. She just couldn’t stand it any longer. That was what she had told the police when they came to see her in the hospital, one male officer, one female, both stern-faced as they sat in the plastic chairs at her bedside and asked her question after question. ‘I just wanted him to stop,’ she had sobbed, engulfed by another wave of tears as she relived the moment all over again.