Eileen shook her head. ‘No. I think the nearest she got to a friend was Natalie, Owen’s wife, or one of the girls who worked in the local beauty shop where she got her nails done. Very sad when you think about it.’

‘Do you mean Camilla?’ Steph said, taking a gamble. She looked at the blank faces of the two women.

‘Camilla? Never heard of her,’ said Eileen.

‘Nope. New one on me,’ agreed Hazel. ‘Where did you get that name from?’

‘Oh … I heard someone mention Camilla at the beauty shop on site,’ said Steph, trying to sound casual at her lie. She gave a self-deprecating smile. ‘I must be jumping to conclusions.’

‘Yeah, must be,’ said Eileen.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Two Years Earlier,
Conmere, 23 September, 10.30 p.m.

There was nothing Elizabeth liked better than a party thrown by the Sinclair brothers, especially when Pru was away. It was almost as if the brothers reverted to their teenage years and could let their hair down properly. This weekend Pru was visiting a friend in Spain and, as an early celebration of Owen’s birthday the following week, a party was now in full swing.

Between them, the brothers knew a lot of people, although Elizabeth was beginning to realise that Harry had the least number of friends. Consequently, it was times like these that Elizabeth was actually grateful to be surrounded by friends of Dominic and Owen.

With a glass of party punch in her hand, Elizabeth wandered out onto the terrace. It was a particularly warm evening and there were upwards of eighty or ninety people. The music was pumping out via the speakers dotted around, and one corner of the terrace had been turned into a makeshift dance floor, complete with multicoloured strobe lighting. Elizabeth looked over the edge of the terrace at the swimming pool below. She didn’t think it was swimming weather but could imagine some people taking an impromptu alcohol-fuelled dip at some point in the night. Natalie had helped Elizabeth rig up the fairy lights draped across the row of trees which lined the path from the terrace to the pool, giving the walkway an enchanted, almost magical feel in the fading light.

Elizabeth looked back through to the main room of the house. The Sinclairs opened it up for conferences, meetings, large gatherings and functions, and it was ideal for this sort of party. She could see Harry still talking to the group of men she had made her escape from ten minutes ago on the pretence of having seen someone she knew. Of course, she hardly knew anyone but the conversation had been boring her rigid and she needed to get away.

‘Now, you look a lonely sight.’

Elizabeth turned to see Dominic at her side. He held up a bottle of champagne.

‘Not lonely,’ she said, offering up her now empty glass for a refill. ‘Just bored, if I’m honest.’