‘No. If I think a patient is in physical harm, I will, of course, take the necessary steps to protect them. What Rachel’s doing is making a life choice – an emotional choice – that you’re not happy about.’

‘Thank you for stating something so utterly obvious,’ I said. ‘That’s most definitely worth ninety pounds.’

Her jaw pulsed, her cornflower-blue eyes flashing like twin lasers.

‘I don’t think this is getting us anywhere, Lily,’ she said sharply. ‘And that ninety pounds? We both know it landed in my account under false pretences.’

Note that she didn’t offer to return it. ‘Unlike the rest of it…’ I muttered.

‘My care for Rachel is real,’ she said. ‘And I want to keep working with her. She wants that too. You may not realize it now, but it’s actually providing healing for your whole family. So I think for her sake – and maybe for all of your sakes – we should agree to cut this conversation here.’

It was infuriating. She was so patronizing: like a nursery teacher with a fetish for crystals and jangly brass bangles.

‘Don’t worry,’ I said, ‘I’ve got to be across town in half an hour anyway.’

‘So, let’s say our goodbyes…’ she said, eyeing me in a way that told me I was being evicted. I slumped internally. The truth was, I wasn’t ready to leave. I wanted something from her that I couldn’t even name. I paused, considered my next utterance. It would be expensive.

‘I’ve got some idea what she will have told you – told you about us – and I just want you to know, to help you more than anything, that Rachel can be something of… not quite a fantasist, but an exaggerator.’ I laughed. ‘She’s had a gift for storytelling right from when she was a little girl. Dragons under her bed, fairies waving from the trees – that kind of thing.’

Amber stared at me without a shred of warmth. ‘The fact you’re paying doesn’t give you a right to the tapes, even if there were any.’

It was nasty, her tone. Her vowels had lost their smooth glide, had been replaced with something more savage.

‘And on that note,’ I said, getting to my feet, ‘I have to give very serious consideration as to whether we continue funding this – this healing process. Is that what you’d call it?’

Amber had recovered her equilibrium, staying neatly perched on her ghastly velvet sofa, as if standing up were too great a trial.

‘I would, yes. And the truth is it’s not a quick fix. When a client’s suffered years of trauma, I don’t have a magic wand that can spirit it away.’

My stomach clenched. Years of trauma. I smiled at her.