Paula stopped hammering on the door for a moment and narrowed her eyes. It had happened before. If she were honest, it happened all the time. Silly, pretty things, pound signs in their eyes as they looked at the self-made success in front of them. But usually a reminder that he was a married man was enough. A possessive hand on his arm, a glance that she had perfected did the trick.

But not in this case.

She returned her attention to the porthole. Down the hall, the elevator door was opening again, a fresh wave of day-trippers emerging. She waited until they drew level with the toilet door, then she curled her hands into fists and banged as hard as she could.

A middle-aged woman in the crowd jerked her head towards the door. Paula’s heart leapt.

‘I’m stuck!’ she shouted, pointing to the handle. ‘I’m locked in!’

The woman glanced over her shoulder, as if to check whether Paula was talking to someone else.

Paula slapped her hand on the glass. ‘Help!’ she mouthed.

Realisation dawned in the woman’s eyes and she held up a hand in a ‘wait’ gesture. Paula pressed her face to the porthole, tracking her movements as she pushed her way to the front of the elevator group.

‘Yes,’ she whispered, as the woman located a staff member, talking to him and pointing back in the direction of the restroom.

The man followed her over, and selected a key from a bunch on his belt. He inserted it in a lock that was too low for Paula to see, and immediately the door sprang open.

Paula fell out into the hallway, profusely thanking both the stranger and the staff member. Then she darted off through the crowd, looking back only once. The woman had moved on; the man was holding the toilet door open now, peering at the lock, testing the handle.

She reached Tommy and opened her mouth to tell him her latest horror story.

‘Did you get your swimming costume?’ he asked.

Her swimming costume. That was where she’d been headed. She glanced around, trying to remain inconspicuous. There she was: Anna, moving towards the doors.

Fear shot through Paula at the sight of her, all the anger of moments ago gone. Terror, real and raw, at the thought of what this tiny woman was capable of. She blinked, and in her mind’s eye she saw the body of the man Anna had been paid to care for, and the bruises on his face.

‘You know what, I’m fine staying on dry land,’ she said.

Tommy glanced at her. ‘Well, I’m going in the water,’ he replied.

‘I’ll watch.’

And watch she did, as Anna tracked a path across the lobby. She never had to say excuse me, Paula noticed, the crowds seeming to part for her.