Ruby shoved the box back where she’d found it and slammed the wardrobe doors. Scanning the room for things out of place, she blanked, couldn’t tell. She hoped there was nothing; she’d no time for anything more than hope. Constance was outside the bedroom; Ruby could hear her panicked breathing. She stepped out, flicked the light off, closed the door. Just the lock to turn now. From behind her, an urgent whisper. “Come on, Ruby. He’s coming in.”

She turned the pin too hard at first; she thought it was going to snap. But then, as the front door opened, she wiggled the lock, the cylinder turned, and she wrenched the hairpin free and took a step away from the bedroom door.

“What’s going on here?” said Gregor.

“Oh,” said Ruby, realizing how suspicious they must look. “We weren’t expecting you.”

He stared hard at each of them in turn. “What are you doing, though?”

“We were exercising,” said Constance.

“We … were?” said Ruby. “That’s right. You weren’t watching, were you? That would be embarrassing.” Both of them were red-faced, breathing hard and sweating. It was the perfect lie.

“No, of course not.”

Gregor walked through to the kitchen with the shopping bag he was holding. “Glad to hear it, though, about the exercise,” he said. “You need to shift a bit of that baby weight, right, Connie?” He stuck his head out the door. “Oh, hang on—if you’re planning to get in shape, should I not have bought these cakes, then?”

Ruby had pulled herself together, though her cheeks still burned. “Don’t be silly. She can eat whatever she likes. She’s barely there.”

“I’m not sure that’s true,” he said. “You can overcompensate. She’s not fat now, but everyone’s only a few calories a day away from weight gain. Even me.”

“I don’t even like cake,” muttered Constance. “You can eat them, Ruby.”

“Are you staying for dinner?” said Ruby to Gregor. “I thought you were working tonight?”

“I’m not staying. I still need to go to Liverpool tonight. Business. I just popped in to drop off some shopping. In fact, do you think you could stop over again, Ruby?”

“You don’t need to,” said Constance to Ruby. “We’ll be fine.”

“I’d be really happy to,” she said.

“That’s settled, then.”