She grabbed a hair band from the shelf and slammed the door shut.

‘Get out of my head,’ Dani said through gritted teeth, glaring at herself in the mirror.

She reached up and pulled her hair back, then wound the hairband around to make a tight bun. She’d had her mousy brown hair dyed lighter two days ago, and had felt pleasantly energised about the new look. She had also bought a new suit and new shoes for her big first day back at work. New look, new Dani. That was the theory. That had all been blown to crap the day before with the rude awakening from McNair. Now the clothes and the look all seemed silly and pointless. Like she was pretending. A fraud. And who really gave a shit anyway?

She spent a couple of minutes putting on some light make-up then sighed and turned away from the mirror. She grabbed her suit jacket from the bed then moved out into the hallway and slipped on her battered old work shoes. The new ones she’d worn yesterday had cost her over a hundred pounds but had left her with painful blisters on both ankles. She really didn’t need that aggro on top of everything else.

She was on her way to the front door when her phone began buzzing on the hall table. Dani grabbed it. Looking at the screen, she frowned.

Gemma?

An hour later Dani sat on a park bench as her niece and nephew raced about in the play area at Sutton Park. Chloe was five. Harry ten. It was half term and Gemma had been let down by her childminder and couldn’t get out of the morning meetings she had planned in the office. Dani was surprised Gemma had thought of her. She was sure she wouldn’t be first on the emergency list, even though she was technically family.

McNair had been accommodating enough about the situation, and Dani had promised to make the hours up. Perhaps she’d already had enough of Dani following the press conference. Dani wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but having slept on it, she was now feeling more than embarrassed about what she’d said – not just to the press, but to McNair afterward. All she’d wanted was to get back to the job she loved. Already her boss and colleagues probably thought she was a crazed idiot.

‘Good job,’ she muttered to herself.