It was the next morning before Zia gathered herself to contact Ursula. Her heart took up an uncertain rhythm. ‘I’m not sure how this conversation is going to go,’ she said before Ursula could utter more than a greeting.

Ursula giggled uncertainly. ‘That sounds as if you expect something bad to come of it.’ Then, uneasiness creeping into her voice, ‘Do you?’

Zia leaned on the terrace railing. Below, clumps of crocosmia had dropped their petals like flickers of flame. She tried to be honest. ‘It’s one of those occasions where speaking up could cause problems but keeping quiet could cause problems too.’

‘Hang on.’ The sound of a door being closed. ‘Go on,’ Ursula said. She sounded downright worried now.

Though she’d rehearsed this call half the night Zia felt as if she were about to jump across a crevasse with no certainty of firm footing on the other side. ‘Brendon put Gerardo up to asking for money to acknowledge me,’ she said bluntly. Briefly, she summed up the chain of events that had led to her confronting first Gerardo and then Brendon last night, omitting the part about seeing Riccardo. She hadn’t properly absorbed her jumpy feelings over that herself. Like an online transaction, her ‘share’ button wasn’t available because processing wasn’t yet complete.

Ursula squeaked in horror. ‘Shite! Before you asked me not to, I talked to Stephan about Gerardo and you using a private investigator to track down your mother’s friend.’

‘I know,’ Zia sighed, glad that, unprompted, Ursula had made the connection between Brendon’s actions and how he must have come by the underlying knowledge necessary. ‘And then Stephan overheard us FaceTiming.’ The midday sun had burned every cloud from the sky and honey buzzards spread their wings to circle slowly in the deep blue, likely spying out bees’ nests to raid.

‘I’m sorry,’ Ursula said miserably. ‘Stephan asked me what else we’d been talking about and got funny when I was evasive, so I told him. He promised he wouldn’t tell Brendon. He promised.’

‘I can see how it happened.’ Zia did understand, even if she didn’t like it. ‘He felt slighted by you keeping my secrets from him. Unfortunately, his loyalties lie with Brendon.’

‘That’s no excuse,’ Ursula broke in hotly. ‘He promised not to tell. I’m his wife. A promise to me should trump his bro code.’ She sounded close to tears.

‘Oh, Ursula,’ Zia breathed in distress. ‘I don’t want to cause trouble.’

‘Don’t you be sorry. You’re right to tell me about my husband’s breach of trust and its consequences. I need to know,’ Ursula retorted bitterly.

Zia groaned. ‘I don’t want to split your loyalties and I understand that you’re married to Stephan, not me. But you’re right … how could I have let you think your confidences to your husband are respected if they’re not?