‘But this is all so exciting!’ Moira was already making mental plans. ‘What if it really is part of the lost statue of Venus? Finding that would really put Kyri on the map! It would be the Venus de Milo all over again! This calls for a drink!’

‘I think we’d better keep an eye on Moira and the retsina,’ Dora winked at Nell. ‘They do say converts are the worst.’

They made their way through the crowd to their usual table outside the hotel.

Moira was looking pensive. ‘The thing is,’ she said excitedly, ‘I’m pretty sure I’ve seen an artist’s impression of the statue, more of a sketch actually, probably done by the French king’s envoy. I’ll go to Eleni’s tomorrow and try to find it. It was in the doctor’s library somewhere.’

‘It’s great to see you back to normal,’ Penny smiled.

‘You mean, being ill might stop me boring you with classical allusions?’ Moira grinned back.

They all laughed.

Moira suddenly leaned forward. ‘Dora, how can you think of going back now? I know you’re this big important person in PR. Even I have read about that singer – what was her name?’ she appealed to them.

‘Venus Green,’ Penny supplied. ‘She won that Make Me a Star programme. My daughter Wendy and I were addicted. Colin said it was a load of old rubbish. Dora is her mentor.’

Moira laughed. ‘How could I forget someone called Venus, of all things?’

This time the temptation to come clean was almost irresistible. All at once, she felt she could trust these women. Maybe because they were so outside her world; but there was also something more, something shared that she wasn’t used to feeling.

Before she could speak, a small, anxious figure launched itself out of the bar, almost making her fall off her chair.

‘Kyria Dora, my father has just told me. You are leaving Kyri and going back to Anglia! Please, please do not go! You are the only one who believes I can do more than look after stupid goats and make coffee!’

Dora got up and put her arm round Ariadne. She looked round at the others. ‘The truth is, Venus Green has fired me and gone to a rival agency. The PR world will have been gossiping about little else. To be brutally honest, that was the main reason I came.’

There was a pause while they absorbed this information.