Later, Emily is quiet on the drive home, and Rupert wonders if she still feels a bit rough, or whether she might be regretting saying yes.

‘Are you OK?’ He takes one hand off the steering wheel to rub her knee, as she gazes silently out of the window.

‘Did you see anyone last night after I asked you to check if someone was outside our room?’ she asks.

‘No,’ he says, ‘there wasn’t anyone outside, and no one on the stairs either. I’m sorry, I should have told you that first thing this morning.’

‘You didn’t see anyone at all?’

‘No. I just told you that. Emily, is there a problem?’ Rupert feels a little irritated. If there is something wrong he’d rather Emily just came out with it, not beat around the bush. Caro used to do the same thing and it drove him mad. The traffic slows and crawls to a stop, typical M25 gridlock, even on a Sunday morning.

‘Not even Sadie?’ Emily’s mouth is turned down and she fiddles with the phone in her hands.

‘Sadie?’

‘Yes, Sadie.’ Emily turns to look at him, her eyes searching his face and Rupert feels a flicker of alarm, even though he knows he hasn’t done anything wrong. ‘She was our host after all; it stands to reason that she might still be up after we’d all gone to bed.’

‘Nope.’ He lies smoothly, edging the car forward as the traffic starts to move. ‘I didn’t see anyone at all. I told you there was no one there.’

Chapter Nine