Her friend looked puzzled. ‘But that’s implying Michael did it.’ Her Australian intonation – modified after decades in England – was heightened when she was making a serious point.

‘I’m not.’ Romy was shocked to hear the waver in her voice. She wanted so badly to allay her own niggling fears. In telling Bettina, she had thought her friend would laugh at the letter, dismiss it as simply the ramblings of a sad, deluded person. And she needed to share the burden with someone. ‘But he won’t talk about it at all, Bet. He gets hurt and upset when I mention it, as if he’s surprised I should want to. Like the letter only exists in my head. He seems to think that just by bringing it up I believe he’s guilty. Which I don’t understand.’

‘Wendy organizes the work-experience kids. Knowing how meticulous she is, there’ll be a spreadsheet somewhere with all the names stretching back to the year dot,’ Michael had stated, with deceptive equanimity, one morning over breakfast, not long after the letter’s arrival, when Romy had brought up the subject yet again. ‘If you’re so desperate to know, why not ask her?’

Romy was amazed. He’d been furious when she’d made the same suggestion before. Was he testing her? But while she hesitated, wondering whether she might actually do so, Michael had erupted.

‘For heaven’s sake, Romy, you seriously think it’s a good idea to draw attention to someone possibly hell-bent on destroying me … us, our family?’ He’d shaken his head, as if she, Romy, were the madwoman here.

Then he’d scraped his chair back and dropped his napkin on his empty toast plate, his mouth clamped shut in a resentful line. ‘Drop it, Romy. Just drop it. She’s had her say. Hopefully she’ll leave it at that.’ He stood above her, fixing her with a hurt stare. ‘Because you realize if you do anything, say anything to anyone, you’ll be opening up a whole nightmare scenario. Which, despite the fact I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong, could finish me.’ His voice broke and he cleared his throat, his gaze softening somewhat. ‘You do realize that?’

Romy, taken aback by the emotion in his voice, had nonetheless persisted. ‘Don’t treat me as if I’m stupid, Michael. I just can’t understand why you’re not even a bit curious as to who she is and why she’s doing this.’

‘Change the record,’ her husband had muttered wearily, turning to leave the room.

Bettina was nodding. ‘Tricky to say what I’d do in the same circumstances. I don’t have so much to lose, obviously. It’s a bit different for a pillar of the justice system, like Michael.’ She eyed her friend. ‘So are you saying him not talking about it is making you suspicious, Romes?’