He raised a liver-spotted hand and patted her arm. ‘You know I would.’ His eyes gleamed, cobalt-blue chips that pierced her. ‘Put it on, I don’t want to see it on the hanger.’

Obediently she left the room, grabbing the bags off the table as she went upstairs. In the room that had become her own, she stripped down to her underwear and emptied the bags on the bed. A dress, she had told him, when in fact she had purchased five. Always, when he sent her out on shopping errands, he told her to get something for herself. After a while it had become clear that he never checked his credit card bill or receipts. In fact, when she had been caring for him for just three weeks, he asked her if she would mind taking over the paying of the bills. Anna had obliged, realising very quickly that William had more than enough in his bank accounts to cover any amount that she spent on his card.

She selected one dress and pulled it on. It was a body-hugging woollen winter number that skimmed her thighs. Appraising her reflection, she shook out her hair. For some unknown reason, the women in the coffee shop came to mind.

Neither of them could wear this, she thought with a sense of satisfaction. Definitely not the heavier of the two, but even the other one, the married, spoiled one, was the wrong side of thirty and the wrong side of size 10 to carry off a dress like this.

The husband would want her to, Anna knew that much just from the way the women had been talking about him. And she would try something on, a dress like this, and his eyes would be filled with disappointment. He would suggest something else, maybe a trouser suit, or a maxi dress that hid a multitude of sins.

On a whim, she pulled out her phone, tapped into the Facebook app, and searched for the name she had overhead earlier that day. It was a relatively common name, and she stabbed at the screen, going into the accounts one by one, checking the relationship status to look at the profiles of the wives, seeking the woman she had seen. The right Tommy Ellis came up at last, and his profile picture confirmed everything Anna had thought about him: tall, tanned, and he clearly took care of himself, even if his wife didn’t. He had the money to, she thought bitterly.