‘My patience is not unlimited. Corinne’s lax attitude is unfortunate, but I am prepared to extend some latitude given her recent bereavement and the fact that she will not be with us for long. Also, I might add, because of Eva’s good behaviour over the years. Unlike her younger sister, she was always diligent and attentive – a hard-working student well liked by her teachers and her peers. I know we can’t expect sisters to act in similar ways, but I had hoped Beth might do more to live up to Eva’s high standard.’ She paused here, and Abi felt unspoken questions pulsing in the air between them, questions about her parenting skills, her children, how could one turn out so well and the other become so rotten? ‘The more pressing matter is this rumour,’ Helen went on. ‘It must be quashed, soon and convincingly, indisputably, and the only way that can be achieved is through a public apology. I must speak plainly, Abi – this is non-negotiable.’

The words rang in Abi’s ears the whole way home. She was driving too fast, impelled by the burn of humiliation running through her body. The way that woman had spoken to her! But underneath it all ran the deeper, more insistent clamour of anxiety over Beth’s behaviour. In the car, she felt the dark form of Beth’s troubled mind crowding around her and slipping into the shadows, a sprightly presence, mercurial and unreliable, always pushing Beth on, pushing and pushing until she reached the edge of the cliff. Abi’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel, her face set against the road, rigid with determination.

Beth looked into her mother’s face – it was drawn and furious.

There was such ice in her voice, such quivering contempt, that it made Beth feel frightened.

‘A bully. That’s what your school principal called you. That’s what kind of daughter I’ve been raising all these years.’

Even though she wasn’t shouting, Beth could see there was something barely controlled about Abi, the way she couldn’t stand still, the sinewy pull of muscles in her neck.

‘Why on earth would you do something like that? Destroying this girl’s reputation. Starting malicious gossip. And the lengths you went to! I’m shocked, Beth. I hadn’t thought you could be so cruel.’

‘She was cruel to me first—’

‘And that justifies it, does it? She was mean to you so that gives you carte blanche to set about wrecking her life? My God, Beth, the girl wanted to kill herself.’

Beth, who had been inwardly raging at her mother, felt her thoughts give a deep, vertiginous dip. ‘What?’

‘You heard me. She told her mother she couldn’t cope, that she’d rather die than face the shame. Her mother was so freaked out she took the child out of school.’

‘Christ,’ Mark said.