‘For goodness’ sake, can’t you see she’s in shock.’ Mrs O’Keefe dared to front up to the woman who had made Nicholas’s life a misery. ‘Let her at least come in and collect some of her things.’

Lavinia turned her gaze back to Mary Kate and seemed almost amused. ‘Yes, you are right. Very harsh of me. I’ll give you five minutes to do that – but not her, she never sets foot inside this house again. Go on, I’m counting.’ She stood back and held the door open for Mrs O’Keefe to pass. ‘She leaves this house with what she came, and that’s next to nothing, so it shouldn’t take you long.’

She lifted her arm and looked at her watch. ‘Oh dearie me, one minute down, four left. Off you go and fetch the little tart’s things and then out!’ She raised her voice as the thin veneer of a smile slipped.

Cat noticed the spittle on her lip and was hypnotised in the glare of such venom.

While Mrs O’Keefe ran up the steps as fast as a woman of her age could, Lavinia turned her attention to Mary Kate, who, dazed, stood and blinked her red and swollen eyes in the light from the hallway. ‘And don’t you dare ever, ever let your shadow darken this doorstep again.’

She was met by silence and it was only Cat who saw the velvet ribbon around Lavinia’s neck and the emerald heart that had belonged to Mary Kate’s mother nestled at her throat.

Chapter 5

They had left the house in five minutes flat. It took a further five to walk down the avenue to reach Mrs O’Keefe’s. Fifteen minutes later, Mary Kate was tucked up in her old bed in the room below Deidra’s. As she closed her eyes, she drifted off into a sedative-induced sleep. William had given the sedative to Mrs O’Keefe, and she’d administered it when they were in Matron’s rooms. ‘Valium,’ he’d said. ‘Two tablets. It will help her sleep tonight and then we’ll give her another dose in the morning if she becomes very distressed. She seems calm now, but I have to warn you, I’ve seen this so many times before: the dam will break at some point. It will hit her hard.’

Once Mary Kate’s eyes had flickered shut, Mrs O’Keefe turned the brown Bakelite knob on the bedroom door with precision; as the catch fell, Deidra, Joan and Cat all let out deep sighs of relief. The four women crept back downstairs and almost fell into the sitting room.

‘Thank God she’s asleep. I was beginning to think tonight would never end,’ said Cat.

Deidra moved to the fireplace, threw in some kindling sticks, pumped the old brass-and-leather bellows on the fire and brought the embers back to life. Silence fell while everyone watched her at work. Tongues of flame rose and licked at the kindling.

The night had been fast moving, beyond their control. They had kept their faces straight and their tears in check, stoic in the face of loss, chaos and an evil woman in heels. Mary Kate had been their first concern, but now that she was safely asleep, the events were hitting them all like a train.