Zoe and Yasmin exchange disgruntled glances. I can almost feel the daggers going in, as I march further into the room. ‘Who’s typing up the minutes from the board meeting?’ I ask, unable to quash the agitation I’m feeling, despite my conscience tugging at me.

Zoe furrows her brow. ‘What minutes? I don’t remember seeing any.’

‘I put the audio tape in Lucy’s in tray when I was last in,’ I say, and wait while more glances are exchanged – worried glances, this time.

‘I didn’t see it.’ Lucy looks flustered and stands up to go through her tray.

‘I see,’ I say, as she then searches her desk, growing more flustered by the second. ‘Perhaps you should consider tidying your desk, Lucy,’ I suggest, a cattiness to my voice I don’t like. ‘Your organisational skills are clearly somewhat lacking.’

‘I’ll help you look,’ Yasmin says, rising from her desk to walk across to Lucy’s, casting me a disdainful glance as she goes.

‘Let me know when you find it,’ I say, marching back to the door before I’m tempted to say more. I’m two steps away from my own office along the corridor when Lucy flies past me towards the ladies’ loo.

She’s in tears, I realise, my anger immediately evaporating to give way to immense guilt.

‘Nice going, Karla. She’s just split up with her boyfriend,’ Zoe says hostilely, moving past me. ‘Nice make-up, too, by the way,’ she throws over her shoulder. ‘I’m not sure what your problem is, but if this is the new you, you might want to tone it down a bit.’

My guilt intensifies, wedging itself like a cannonball in my chest. I’m doing exactly what my father does, I realise, aghast, bullying people, caring nothing for their feelings, what they might have going on in their lives. ‘I’m sorry,’ I say weakly, but there’s no one to hear me. Zoe has disappeared into the toilets after Lucy.

In one fell swoop I have soured my relationships with three people. Broken the trust of the people I work with. They will hate me now, with good reason. Who is this vile person I seem to have become?