Mia laughed off the comment. ‘Yes, I’m sure Laura will be there.’

‘Is she still angry with you?’

‘Yes,’ Mia said. ‘Yes, I think she’s still out to get me,’ she added a little more quietly.

‘And who are you out to get, little sister?’ Jess asked.

Mia’s smile dropped and she cocked her head, her gaze falling on Jess, who was looking at her intently. But by the time she eventually started to ask Jess what she meant by that, her sister had left the room.

It was just gone seven-thirty by the time Mia’s taxi pulled up into Harry Wood’s sweeping driveway. Other staff from the office were already there. She could hear the murmur of conversation and laughter, a hint of music drifting from the back garden. Glancing at the side-gate, she wondered if she should go straight through, before thinking better of it and walking up to the double wooden door at the front.

It really was a luxurious home. The topiary bushes that lined the driveway were manicured to perfection. Automatic lights flooded the way as the cab pulled up. Even the driver whistled as he drove in.

Janie Wood answered the door and let Mia inside. A smile was plastered onto her face, which was naked apart from black mascara and maybe a bit of bronzer. Janie was naturally attractive, but her smile did nothing to hide the anguish behind it. Mia assumed these parties were not high on her list of things she enjoyed, though she was clearly trying to give the impression she was happy to have her house invaded by her husband’s employees. She probably had other things that she could be doing with her evening – friends she would rather be spending time with.

Janie pointed Mia towards the kitchen and asked if she wouldn’t mind helping herself to a drink. She had to get something from the dining room, she said.

Of course she didn’t mind helping herself, Mia insisted, but she hovered in the hallway as Janie slipped away into the room on their left. The sound of an engine pulling up outside caught Mia’s attention. She almost expected to hear the screech of brakes, the way it hurtled up the drive. She peered through the thin slit of window that ran beside the length of the front door and watched as a grey Qashqai pulled up at the side of the drive and Laura stepped from the driver’s door, banging it shut behind her and stopping to peer up at the house.

Mia drew back. No husband, she noticed. It seemed Laura had driven herself to the party on her own. Presumably she was intending to stay sober.