‘Well, I’d managed to get him out of his office by saying I wanted to see him about my husband, so all I could say was how my husband didn’t appreciate me. How I’d become invisible in my own life. Just a mother. A wife. And how I was being driven mad by not having any kind of independent identity.’

‘You told him the truth?’ Judith said.

‘I didn’t tell him the truth!’ Becks said, confused. ‘It was all a fib. Just to get him talking.’

‘Oh right,’ Judith said, exchanging a glance with Suzie. ‘It was a lie.’

‘I’m so lucky to lead the life I do.’

‘Of course.’

‘But I had to make up something for Andy, so I said I wasn’t happy and that I was looking to leave Colin, and I wanted to know what I could expect in a divorce settlement. Whether I’d get the full fifty per cent, and whether I’d have access to an income as the main caregiver to our children, and what responsibility he’d have to cover the costs of my move out of the vicarage.’

Judith and Suzie caught each other’s eyes again. For someone who was happy in her life, Becks certainly seemed to have the facts of divorce at her fingertips.

‘And what did Andy say?’

‘He said that someone as pretty as me could take her husband to the cleaners.’

‘He said that, did he?’

‘In his experience, judges didn’t take too kindly to husbands ignoring pretty wives.’

‘That can’t be true.’

‘I’m sure it isn’t. I think it was Andy’s way of coming on to me. And then he suggested we take a walk along the Thames Path. Not towards the church, thank heavens, but towards Hurley Lock. And once we were out of earshot of anyone else, he told me that if I could suggest there’d been physical violence from my husband, I’d get an even better settlement. I was outraged. I mean, Colin may be boring, but he’s never been violent.’

Judith and Suzie didn’t even need to catch each other’s eyes this time.

‘But he said it could be quite subtle. After all, if I was able to suggest mental cruelty, and then refuse to answer questions about physical violence, the judge would draw his own conclusion. It was, according to Andy, all about throwing as much mud as possible at Colin. I was outraged.’

‘I’m sure none of this is actually legal.’

‘That’s what I said to him, and you know what he did? He laughed. Said I was a naive little girl, and I had a lot to learn before I could screw my husband for the last time.’

‘The repulsive little man,’ Judith said.

‘But it gets worse. Because I realised we were walking along the path towards Stefan’s house.’

‘You made it up this way?’