‘Have you thought about buying her a display case to put some of her mum’s things in?’ suggested Steve. ‘Or a shelf would do. Our Jack has a “Mum” shelf, although he kept that quiet for a while. One day I noticed Bella’s house keys were missing from the bowl in the kitchen where she’d left them. I felt sick because the boys had bought her the keyring one Christmas. Lo and behold, I found it, and her keys, on his shelf along with some other mementoes he’d appropriated.’

‘That’s not a bad idea. Thanks, Steve,’ said Tara, nodding thoughtfully. ‘So how is everyone else doing?’

Tara looked to April, but she shook her head. If they were talking about keepsakes, she didn’t think anyone wanted to hear about the time sheets she had gathered to track Jason’s last known movements. She had put a lot of hours into her latest audit and had even taken work home with her. She could see the sheets laid out across her duvet as she sat cross-legged on her bed. In her lap had been two phones, hers and Jason’s.

April had gone back as far as September the year before, checking both their phone diaries against her husband’s logged hours. Her heartbeat was thumping against her eardrums like a drumroll by the time she reached November, but when she spotted an afternoon Jason had booked as leave while she was at work, an eerie calm had descended. Within minutes she had found another clandestine afternoon off, and then another, right up to the week before he died. Clasping a time sheet in her hand, she had released a silent, tortured scream and, when it was over, the bed was littered with confetti.

They never took days off separately unless it was for something mundane like a repair in the flat or the delivery of a new appliance, but the only thing special about these dates were that they matched, or were close to, the dates of the cash withdrawals. In each case, Jason had claimed flexi leave – using accrued hours despite telling April that he never made up enough credit to take leave. All lies. So many lies, and only one undeniable truth. Jason had been having an affair.

April had tried not to think about who the other person might be, but of course she had. She had taken her time picking and choosing her sample list of employees, and she wasn’t sure how she felt when her investigation drew a blank. No one she had targeted with her suspicions had been on leave at the same time as Jason. She ought to have felt some relief, but if anything, she was beset with frustration, and shame. Jason had turned her into someone she no longer recognised.