Portia reached for the whisky bottle and refilled her glass. ‘Yes. Relieved and surprised. Stuart was incandescent with rage.’ She got to her feet and, without a word, removed the cardigan she was wearing. Underneath, the sleeveless blouse exposed her arms. There was a multitude of bruises along their length. She pulled the bottom of the blouse up to show her belly and, with a slow turn, her back. There was hardly an inch that wasn’t covered in various shades of purple and green. ‘Usually, he’s careful not to hurt me where bruises can be seen,’ she said, dropping the blouse and reaching for her cardigan. ‘I won’t be able to go to the gym for a while.’

Allison felt that dart of sympathy again and fought against it. ‘At least you’ve the sense to leave him this time; you should have done it years ago.’ She knew the words were foolish. There had been enough information regarding domestic abuse for her to know it was never as simple as that, knew from reading about it, the horrors of coercive control. It had only been recognised as a crime recently but it had been going on forever.

But Allison had her own problems; she’d no room for Portia’s. ‘I’m surprised Stuart agreed to give us any money.’

‘He didn’t.’ Portia’s face tightened in satisfaction. ‘He doesn’t know a thing about it.’

Both Allison and Jo jerked back in their seats at this, each of them with their mouths open, both unusually lost for words.

It was left to Portia to fill the silence. ‘Stuart always underestimated me. He thought his control was complete and I suppose it was, but I’d found ways, many years ago, to take a little back.’

‘You squirrelled away some money?’ Jo guessed.

‘No, he’d have noticed.’ Portia rested both hands on the table and mimed typing, her fingers tapping out a dull thud. ‘He thought I spent my days at the gym or reading, but what he didn’t know, what he never considered, was that I spent so much time on his office computer.’ She sneered unpleasantly. ‘He was so arrogant, so certain I was under his thumb, he used a password a child would have guessed. I spent hours looking through his files. It seems I have a natural affinity for numbers and before long I knew exactly where he hid every penny.’ She met Allison’s surprised gaze. ‘I could have been an accountant had my life turned out differently.’

Jo waved a hand to get Portia’s attention. ‘So what did you do?’

‘Do?’ Portia lifted her glass and took a miniscule sip. ‘I didn’t do anything. Simply enjoyed knowing everything. Each time, when I’d finished, I deleted my browser search so he never knew.’

‘But today,’ Allison said, guessing she was on the right track, ‘you were able to transfer the money to me.’