‘Just remember, housekeepers are ten-a-penny around here. I could let you go just like that.’ Bethany snapped her fingers. ‘Go and get a dustpan and brush, and a cloth, and clean it up. I promise you, if there’s any damage to the parquet, it will come out of your pay.’

‘She didn’t mean it, Bethany,’ Jez told her softly. ‘It was an accident.’

Bethany glared at her. ‘You’re a very lucky woman, do you know that? You’re lucky that my husband, who is a far more understanding person than me, has intervened.’ She looked at Jez, her face still contorted with fury. ‘God knows where you found this woman. You hired her, you sort it out.’

Then she walked off, heels clicking briskly on the wood. Jez turned to the housekeeper and told her gently, ‘I’m sorry she spoke to you like that.’

‘I understand, sir,’ she said. ‘I apologize for what happened.’

‘You don’t have to…’ Jez winced. ‘Please don’t call me sir.’

‘I had better clear this up.’

The woman glanced morosely at Abs and Tony and went off to get the equipment.

Abs whistled. ‘Bethany has got a temper on her, mate.’

‘Her family have always had staff, so she can sometimes be… brisk.’

‘That’s one way of putting it.’

‘She’s very particular about how things are done,’ said Jez defensively. ‘And very house-proud.’

‘I’ve got to go,’ said Tony. ‘Things to do.’

‘So listen, I’ll go and see the feds,’ Abs said as they walked to the front door. ‘In the meantime, we just have to hold our nerve, yeah? I’ll say it again, lads, teamwork makes the dream work.’

Tony nodded, but it was Jez who worried Abs. He’d been quiet in the library, and Abs noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes, the tension in his face. What Jez needed was a good night out. There was a glitzy LIE! production bash that evening. Abs had been invited as a former cast member and had offered to take him, but his mate didn’t like noisy parties and said he would rather stay home with Bethany.

‘We did a bad thing,’ said Tony. ‘And I’ll never forgive myself.’

‘We did.’ Abs couldn’t disagree with that. He squeezed Tony’s shoulder. ‘We did a bad thing, Tone, but we’re not bad people. We’re really not.’

Abs had never hurt a fly in his life – he was a lover, not a fighter. Until that awful night when his life was turned upside down, he had lived a good life, a blameless life.

All he had wanted to do was enjoy a banging night out.

6

Three years ago

And he did. It was the best night, it really was, until the following morning when everything went to shit.

That first evening, they had enjoyed a few drinks at the holiday cottage they were renting – there was nothing else to do, it was literally in the middle of nowhere – and then decided to find a pub where they could enjoy some local hospitality.