I sigh inside. That seems rather intrusive. Why should she look at the loving messages I send to Miles? But if I make a fuss it will look as if I’m covering something up. So I duly scribble down the details of that one too, and force myself to give her a wide stretched smile.

‘Should we go and have a coffee in the café over the road? Get out of your hair?’ I ask.

‘No. We need you all here in case we want to ask you any questions.’

‘Fine. But can you give us any idea of how long you will be?’

‘As long as it takes. Sometimes we are in offices for days. With private client companies we sometimes find all sorts of money laundering issues.’

Days. Money laundering. Panic rises inside me. I am not sure I can cope with this. ‘I’ll just pop to the bathroom,’ I mutter.

Keeping my eyes to the floor so I don’t have to look at Tony attacking Ted’s computer, or suffer the gaze of Julie’s worried eyes, I slip into our tiny cloakroom. Hardly a cloakroom, more a broom cupboard with a toilet and handbasin in it. I put the toilet lid down and sit on it, head in my hands. I close my eyes. I feel sick, as if I am about to vomit. Faint. Even though I am sitting down. I wish I was anywhere but here. Anywhere? Not quite anywhere. I’d pass on a desert island with Caprice. My stomach tightens. Caprice. Is she behind this? No. Miles is right. Her influence couldn’t stretch this far. Even she could not make the Law Society do her bidding.

I lower my head to between my knees. I begin to feel stronger. Slowly, slowly I pull myself to standing, splash my face with cold water from the basin and brace myself to step back into the office. Reminding myself that I am the founder and owner of BPC, not a criminal who has done something wrong. I am a businesswoman who has always worked hard and with integrity. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. Grind them down instead.

I walk back into the office to find Ted still standing at Tony’s shoulder, watching Tony flick through our bank statements now. Julie is hiding behind a large arrangement of roses, fiddling with her iPhone. But despite my best intentions I don’t know where to put myself. I can’t get on with any work. There is nowhere to sit. I stand looking at the flowers. They rotate in front of me. They fade into grey and white dots, and my world turns black.

I wake up to find Ted and Julie leaning over me. Julie is fanning my face with a magazine.

‘Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. We’ve called an ambulance.’