‘I’d like that too.’ She felt like a traitor to both herself and Harry. She wanted to see him again, no doubt about that. She hadn’t felt so drawn to a man in a long time, maybe never, but there was the other side of her who was fist-pumping the air that he was prepared to open up about Elizabeth to her. She might be able to find out something that would be crucial to proving or disproving Sonia’s theory.

‘I’d better let you go,’ said Harry.

‘And I’ve got a date with the laundry room,’ said Steph.

‘Have fun.’

‘Can’t wait.’

As she made her way across the hall and to the rear of the house, she didn’t need to look round to know Harry was watching her. She could feel his eyes searing into her back. Her stomach gave a little flutter of excitement and she could feel herself grinning broadly.

Conmere, Staff Room, Tuesday, 14 May, 5.00 p.m.

The laundry was as boring as Steph had anticipated and Harry had warned. She spent the afternoon counting in the table linen and napkins, sheets, pillowcases, towels and duvet covers, putting everything away correctly in the laundry room, then going around the various station points in the main house and stocking up the cupboards.

Finally, the afternoon shift was over and Steph was free to do what she liked. She ate tea with Antonio and two other members of staff, Hazel and Eileen. Both women had worked at Conmere for several years. It was a good opportunity to try to get the women on to the subject of the Sinclair family.

‘Do you live far away from the resort?’ asked Steph, looking at her colleagues.

‘I’m about two miles down the road in Conmere village,’ said Eileen.

‘I’m over at Kendalton, which is about a twenty-minute drive,’ replied Hazel.

‘Although I haven’t always lived there,’ continued Eileen. ‘I used to live in, here at Conmere House, in the staff quarters.’

‘How long ago was that?’ asked Steph.

‘I’ve been moved out about eighteen months now.’

‘What made you move?’ Steph hoped her interest sounded casual.

‘A couple of reasons, really. I used to live here with my partner, but we split up and he stayed on working, which made it a bit awkward. Although he did actually leave Conmere six months ago, thank goodness.’

‘Good riddance too,’ chipped in Hazel. ‘Thought he was going to stay forever.’ She looked over at Steph. ‘He wasn’t very popular with the rest of us, in case you hadn’t noticed. He was always grassing people up to Dominic for petty things, like being late or having five minutes’ longer break, that sort of thing.’

Steph pulled a sympathetic face. ‘One of those,’ she said. Then, turning back to Eileen, ‘What were the other reasons?’