But she wondered why and when Essie had stopped diving for her own treasure.

A week after meeting Anthony in the museum, Liv’s new contract arrived in her inbox. She surreptitiously opened the email as she trundled her cleaning cart through the Platinum office. A suited man passed her and mumbled, “The ladies’ loos need cleaning.”

Someone had been sick in a sink and Liv gritted her teeth while tugging on her rubber gloves. She pledged to hand in her notice right after this shift.

After she finished wiping the basin, the door to the bathroom swung open and the woman in the cream skirt suit tottered up to the mirror again. She averted her eyes from Liv and searched in her bag for something. A sweet wrapper and a crumpled receipt fell to the floor. The woman opened a mirrored compact and powder sprinkled into the sink Liv had just cleaned. The woman swept aside her litter with the side of her foot and reapplied her lipstick.

Liv felt something switch inside her, as if someone had turned the power back on after a blackout. As the woman turned on her heels and made to exit the room, Liv snatched up her rubbish from the floor. “Excuse me,” she called out.

The woman looked back, her eyes sweeping over Liv before settling on the embroidered logo on her chest.

“You forgot something.” Liv strode toward her and held out the wrapper and receipt.

The woman eyed them, as if they were dog dirt in the middle of her lawn. “It’s not mine,” she said.

The something inside Liv started to boil over. “You need an optician. Clearly there’s something wrong with your eyesight.”

The woman smirked. “I don’t think so.”

Liv spotted her handbag wasn’t fully zipped up. She shot out a hand, pushed the litter into the gap then zipped it. “In case you need them,” she said with a smile.

“Don’t you dare touch me.” The woman shrank back, her top lip curling. “It’s your job to pick things up. I’m going to report this. What’s your name?”

Liv glared at her defiantly. The spirit of Georgia Rory felt alive within her. She made a show of peeling off her tunic before slinging it over one of the cubicle doors. Her notice period had just ended super early. “My name is Liv Green,” she said. “And in the future, don’t judge a book by its cover.”

At the Cardinals’ house, Hannah had covered the dining table with cosmetics and set up a ring light and tripod for her iPhone. She studied her own face reflected on the screen. Liv noticed her cheeks were bright pink, as if she’d fallen asleep in the sun.