I suddenly spot a navy folder slotted in horizontally along the top of some of the files on a high bookshelf above his desk. Putting the rock down, I reach for it and flip it open. The letterhead on the first page is gilt-embossed: Lyon Raymond & Lyon. Harper was right: it’s a letter confirming the law firm’s retainer to represent Felix in his divorce.

The divorce Stacey knows nothing about.

Harper ran into Felix coming out of the lawyers’ office the day Tom and I saw them hugging on the street. If we threaten to tell Stacey about the divorce, she reasoned, Felix might agree to sell the Glass House to me in return for our silence. But first we need proof.

I doubt Felix will be that easily intimidated. But since I’m here anyway, it can’t hurt to take copies of the paperwork and give it a shot, just to get Harper off my back.

I’m a little surprised he wants a divorce, to be honest. Abusive, controlling men like him don’t usually let their wives out of their clutches. But according to Harper, Stacey has family money. A lot of money: after her brother’s death, she inherited her parents’ considerable estate. I’m guessing that until now it’s been ring-fenced from Felix by a network of trusts, but if they were to get divorced, it’s possible the estate would no longer be afforded the same protection. Maybe Felix has reached the point where he wants the money more than he wants her.

I take a picture of the lawyer’s letter with my phone and put the folder back on the bookshelf. It’s only then I notice a box file casually lying on the windowsill.

Birth certificate, passport, will, car title, house deeds. All of them right there for anyone to find. I take the deeds, and put everything else back. Another couple of minutes, and I’ll be out of here.

I flip open Felix’s laptop.

There’s just one more thing I have to do first.

chapter 30

stacey

The picnic was Millie’s idea. She suggested an afternoon at the Hurlingham Club: she and Stacey could bring Peter and Archie; Harper would come with her two little boys. No husbands: that way Felix couldn’t object to being excluded.

Stacey isn’t sure about Harper Conway. She’s only met the girl once, at the charity gala six weeks ago, and Harper got very drunk and didn’t exactly cover herself in glory. Stacey’s very careful about who she admits to her inner circle: she has to be. She’s been stung more than once by ‘friends’ selling stories about her to the tabloids. And Harper makes a living from social media: there’s no such thing as bad publicity for her.