Steph put her case down by the bed. ‘Am I sharing with anyone?’

‘No. This is empty, so you have it to yourself. Again, we try to give staff their own rooms where possible.’ He went over to the window and drew back the curtains. ‘I’m afraid it’s not much of a view, just the car park. Bloody hell, is that your car down there?’

Steph felt her heart sink. She went over to stand by him at the window and, sure enough, her car could be seen from this wing of the house, the box hedging not tall enough to disguise the damage. ‘Yes, that’s mine.’

‘Is that recent?’

‘I did it this afternoon, actually,’ said Steph. She had already planned what to say in case anyone asked her. ‘I skidded off the road on some mud and managed to side-swipe a wooden fence.’

‘Are you OK?’

‘Yes, I’m fine but, as you can see, my poor car isn’t.’

‘Whereabouts did it happen?’ asked Dominic, still looking out of the window.

‘Round by one of the lakes, on the other side of Con Point Hills.’

‘That’s a bit out of the way; what were you doing up there?’

‘I met a friend and we thought we’d do a bit of sightseeing. My mistake.’

‘You need to be careful. The roads round there can be deadly.’

She wasn’t sure she liked the way he said the word deadly and the way his eyes fixed on hers. ‘I misjudged it. I should have slowed,’ she said, looking away, not wanting the fear in her own eyes to betray her.

‘Sure it wasn’t that knock on the head from last night?’

‘No. Like I said, mud on the road.’ She moved away from the window and hoped Dominic would take this as his cue to leave.

‘Is there anything else I can help you with?’ he asked, as he walked towards the door.

Steph was about to say no but changed her mind. ‘There is actually. You didn’t ask anyone to get references from my old employer, did you?’

Dominic looked surprised. ‘No, nothing to do with me. I assumed Harry had that all under control – after all, he was the one who offered you the job. Why? Did someone contact them?’

‘Yes; it might not have been from here though. I just wondered, that was all.’

‘Best speak to Harry.’ Dominic paused in the doorway. ‘Oh, and tomorrow morning it’s an early start. Seven-thirty in the laundry room. Heidi will tell you what you’re doing.’

Once Dominic had finally gone, Steph unpacked her case with the few clothes she’d brought, having originally planned just to be here for the weekend. Maybe she’d be issued with a uniform tomorrow; if not she’d have to wash out her jeans. She didn’t really want to spend too much money on clothes that she might not wear again.