Diana was looking at him weirdly, like she wanted to say something but was holding herself back.

The awkward silence sat heavy on them.

“How did you hurt yourself?” Diana said to Helen eventually.

“What do you mean?”

“Your cheek.”

Helen reached up to her eye and said, “Oh nothing, just a bit of gardening. The roses, you know…”

Matt stood and shuffled from foot to foot.

“Matt said you have a gardener.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t prune the roses if I feel like it,” Helen snipped back. She stared at Matt, willing him to look at her so that she could see if there was guilt in his eyes, but his face was blank, difficult to read as always. Surely if he had driven into her, he would be acting more amused than he was, or – she hoped – relieved that she was ok, but she saw neither emotion.

“It must be nice to be able to afford to pay someone to do all the jobs you can’t be bothered to do,” Diana said.

“I guess it is,” Helen replied. “Arthur has worked here since I was a child though. He’s part of the furniture now. More a family member than an employee.”

“So you can afford a cleaner, a gardener and a pool guy?”

How did she know that? What had Matt been saying?

“Yes, well, the house is too big for us to manage it all ourselves.”

Diana was making her feel uncomfortable. “Your family has owned this house for generations, haven’t they? You obviously come from a very wealthy background.”

“Well, it’s nice to not have to worry about money, I guess, but there are more important things in life.”

“Only a rich person would say that,” she said.

“It’s really none of your business.”

Diana smiled icily and walked away. Matt followed her, leaving Helen standing in the hallway.

She thought she heard Diana whisper something about lying as they headed up the stairs.

She waited for a moment, then followed and stood outside Matt’s closed bedroom door. She pressed her ear to the wood, trying to hear what was being said, but the voices were muffled, any words unclear. As she stepped back, Lydia’s door opened and Helen jumped back. Clive shuffled out, stopped and looked up at her, as if asking her what she was doing.

“You’re right, Clive. I know, I need to leave it,” she said quietly, as though he had indeed spoken. Some of Helen’s best conversations were with Clive.