He sighed before he answered. “I probably deserve that, and I’m trying. For what it’s worth, I put forward your ideas to Mum and Dad and they want to explore them further. They’re delaying their retirement for a while, so we can focus on the business as a family. And that includes you, if you want to be more involved. We’d love to hear your thoughts.”

She was too tired to think about Paperpress, her potential job at the museum or anything else. “I’m sure Katrina won’t agree with all this,” she said.

“My sister has got her own way for too long. Me, Mum, and Dad all agree on the business and she’ll have to get in line. There’s not going to be a big rebrand. We won’t be printing any celebrity autobiographies.”

Liv closed her eyes. She’d wanted to hear something like this for such a long time, but she was still reeling from the revelations about Essie.

“At least give me your address, so I know you’re safe,” Jake said.

With reluctance, she told him.

Liv got out of bed and padded through to the bathroom again. She was pleased to find shampoo and a fresh towel in a cabinet next to the shower. Everything looked clean and the water was hot when she ran it. As it bounced off her face, her thoughts rumbled in her head like an earthquake.

She remembered Essie once saying that being a writer meant putting yourself inside different people’s heads, imagining how they think and feel. And she tried to do this now, with the author.

She pictured Essie as a young woman, clasping letters from a handsome witty professor to her heart. His interest in her mind and talent were enthralling. Liv imagined Essie’s heart pattering as she raced to the lecture theater, yearning for a glimpse of Grant, not realizing that her youthful exuberance was taking gradual steps toward being overbearing.

It must have been painful to receive the cuff links back from him, and to be crushed by his final letter. Grant Cooper could never be a lover, nor a friend. Liv saw Essie crying herself to sleep night after night, after Grant died, not being able to share her devastation with anyone.

Liv wondered if Essie escaped her gilded life to return to her old flat, to pretend she was young again. Did she come here as Ted tried to make her more sophisticated, taking her to parties as if she was a show pony? Did Essie dream of her dingy little flat as she lay on silk sheets with Hank in LA, while their driveway was full of cars and she wore diamonds on her fingers?