What? It seemed to be happening over and over, that I would reach for a certainty I knew to be true, only to find it melted away. I’d seen nothing from the school, and Mike had never mentioned this. ‘I – we never got those letters.’ My mind was stumbling over it. Some mix-up at the bank? Or they had our old address still? But this one had come to the house. And Mike had, for some reason, picked it up and hidden it in his briefcase.

‘Perhaps your husband . . .’

Rage swelled in me. She’d no idea what it meant to even have a husband, slog away side by side for twenty years, and then find out he’d been sleeping with your best friend on the side. ‘Look, this is ridiculous. We’ve been paying you a fortune for years now, and you’re causing an issue over a few missed bills?’ Surely just some mistake. We were never late. Why would we be, when we had such a comfortable safeguard?

‘You really need to speak to the bursar.’

‘Put me through then.’

‘He’s at a conference today, I’m afraid. But there is usually a policy of barring pupils from exams if the fees aren’t paid and . . .’

I slammed the phone down on her. ‘Little bitch.’ Bill was watching me in his calm way, saying nothing. ‘Fine, fine, I know it’s not her fault, but really. You’d think they could have a little understanding.’

Bill was sifting through the envelopes, which he’d been opening with his large hands. ‘There’s a lot of bills here. Too many for only a week. Do you think . . . ?’

‘What?’

‘I’m sorry to pry, Ali, but were you having money problems? Because a lot of these have been outstanding for a while. Look, is this Benji’s school? That’s overdue too.’

‘I don’t understand.’ I looked down at the paper, spreading out and covering the table. ‘I don’t get it. There was plenty coming in. Thousands every month.’

Bill had been going through our bank statements, I saw, and I blushed for a moment, thinking of all the stupid purchases that would show up. Ocado delivery. Vast amounts spent at Joules, and on my weekly facial, and our last holiday. ‘There seems to be a few big amounts going out,’ he said, screwing up his eyes. ‘Here, you see? And there. It’s every month.’

I squinted at it, the columns of numbers swimming in front of my eyes. ‘What’s that?’

‘I don’t know. Looks like an account number.’

I got my phone and typed it into Google. Nothing. ‘No. I don’t know what it is.’

‘Did Mike have any investments, things like that?’