Allison would have liked to have slid the bottle down the table like a character in a bad Western. She might even have tried if the table hadn’t been sticky from the earlier spillage. Instead, she picked it up, swung it gently by the neck till Portia caught it.

‘Thanks.’ She filled her glass and took a sip. ‘It was probably a year or so later when he started cheating on me, spending nights in hotels with women he picked up at parties or in bars. In those days, there was always someone willing to make him happy. He was very generous. It was only in the last few years when it became more difficult.’ She took another sip of the whisky, then stared into the glass. ‘Unfortunately, although he got older, his taste remained the same. He liked them young, their skin soft and smooth.’

Jo sneered. ‘So you started pimping for him.’

‘Pimping, such a crude word, but sadly it’s also apt.’

‘Wait a minute,’ Allison said. ‘If he liked them young, why the hell was he interested in me?’ What was it about her that this depraved man desired? Had he seen a kindred spirit, someone as monstrous at heart as he was? She needed to know the answer, dreaded hearing the truth. She wasn’t sure she could handle any more.

Portia didn’t rush to answer the question. She fiddled with her glass, tracing a circle on the table with the base. Around and around, the irritating grinding noise setting Allison’s teeth on edge. She saw Jo struggling to stay quiet. This time, Allison wasn’t going to stop her exploding.

Before either of them did, however, Portia spoke, ‘By now, there was little love lost between us. I stayed because I couldn’t leave; he stayed because he enjoyed controlling me. He took pleasure in it. Making me do things I didn’t want to do.’ She raised her eyes from the glass, looking at Allison with a smile. ‘I never risked making friends. People ask too many questions. You, on the other hand, didn’t. You were pleasant, unassuming and always just a little bit sad. I was drawn to you.’

And Allison had fallen for her scheming lies. ‘Next you’ll be telling me you really wanted to be friends.’

‘I don’t expect you to believe me, but yes, that’s what I hoped.’ Portia started her circling again. Round and round. She stopped, lifted the glass to her lips and swallowed the contents, coughing as the whisky hit her throat. ‘I made a mistake, though; I should never have left the gym at the same time as you. Stuart was waiting.’

Jo laughed. ‘Come on, don’t tell me he saw Allison and became enamoured with her. No offence to you, Al, you’re a nice-looking woman, but you’re no Helen of Troy.’