Lucy rolled her eyes and waved a hand in the air. ‘Oh, he basically told me this was in my daughter’s head,’ she said. ‘That they’ve been watching Dexter and he hasn’t shown any signs of violence in the playground.’

‘He didn’t actually say that,’ Janie gasped as she fiddled the clasp on her purse shut and threw it back into her bag. ‘That it was in her head?’

‘Not in so many words, but he might as well have.’

‘I can’t believe they’re not doing anything about it. Dexter’s clearly insane. I mean you only need to look at his mother,’ Kristen chipped in.

‘His mother’s the problem, isn’t she?’ Lucy said. ‘If they weren’t donating so much bloody money to the school, left, right and centre, someone might actually have opened their eyes and seen their son was a lunatic. You know they’ve invited Mr Steele out on their boat at the weekend?’

‘That, and the fact she works full-time of course,’ Kristen murmured.

Janie winced.

‘Kris, you can’t say things like that that,’ Lucy said. ‘It’s got nothing to do with it.’

‘Of course it has,’ Kristen shrugged. ‘She’s never there. Dexter’s left to the au pair to sort out, who I’m afraid barely speaks one word of English. He gets away with murder, I see it outside the school gate. She’s just eighteen and can’t control him.’

‘Well, you’re not going to like my news then,’ Anna smiled. ‘I’m going back to work.’

‘You’re what?’ Lucy spluttered.

‘I know,’ she grinned. ‘Crazy, eh? But my old boss called and they need someone urgently, and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while anyway. Why are you all looking at me like that?’

‘I don’t know,’ Lucy said. ‘I mean, of course it’s great, if that’s what you want to do, but … Aren’t you going to miss all this?’ She waved an arm around the empty coffee shop and Janie followed it with her gaze.

Janie’s stomach had dipped so deep she could feel it sitting like a lump of rock inside her. She’d never regret being around for the girls the past few years, but sometimes it was hard to ignore the hole stretching and tugging inside. If things had been different … If she hadn’t taken on that case …

But this was her life now and, as far as the girls went at least, Janie was happy with it. She turned her attention back to Anna, who was grinning and shaking her head.