‘Uh-oh. It’s from the insurance company. Let’s hope it’s good news.’ Grace tore open the envelope.

‘Why are they contacting you here? Oh, I suppose the agent who came here has this address,’ said Tina, sitting down next to Daisy.

Grace read the letter quickly, frowning, then slowly refolded it.

‘Basically, it’s saying that there is some question about the cause of the fire, so they need an arson specialist to do further investigations.’

Tina looked startled. ‘Good grief. So much red tape. I suppose they have to be thorough. That house must have been insured for quite a sum.’

Grace stared at the letter. Arson . . . who on earth would want to set fire to their home? That couldn’t be right, surely? And anyway, just how much was the house insured for? Was it even in both their names? She felt foolish that she didn’t know. She decided she’d call the insurance broker in the morning. She took a sip of wine and started making the dinner.

As she was rinsing the rice, her phone pinged and she picked it up to find a text message from Lawrence.

Grace, I plan to take Daisy out for the day tomorrow. Please arrange to bring her to my office at 10 am.

‘It’s a school day! You jerk!’ she hissed at her phone.

‘Grace? What’s going on?’ Her mother and Daisy both looked up at her.

Grace said to Daisy, ‘Can you do me a drawing of Charlie the guinea pig, darling? I’d love to know what he looks like. Mum, do you have a minute?’ she added.

As they stepped onto the verandah, she held up her phone. ‘Lawrence expects me to deliver Daisy to him for the day tomorrow. No mention about when he’ll return her, or what they’re doing. Suddenly he’s interested in her. He hasn’t taken her out on his own since she was a toddler.’ Grace felt a rising panic.

‘Well, that’s just silly. She has school tomorrow. She can’t just miss it on a whim. Tell him to come here and spend time with her at the beach on Saturday.’

‘You don’t “tell” Lawrence anything. He’s gone in hard, just like Mel said he would. It’s going to be a war.’

Grace thought about it then sent back a carefully worded text: It’s a special day at school tomorrow and Daisy is looking forward to it as she has a key role in the day’s activities. Why not come and get her on Saturday and spend time with her up here, close to home, as I’ll be working most of the day.

Lawrence’s reply was swift and to the point. Daisy’s ‘home’ is not her grandmother’s house. It is with her parents. You are being selfish and obstructive.

Grace couldn’t be bothered to argue. Lawrence always reacted to unpleasant situations or advice by ignoring them. She was sure that if she and Daisy were to go back to him, he would act the loving and devoted father and husband in front of people, but in private he’d essentially leave them to fend for themselves. As he’d done a lot over the last few years.