“That’s true, but only of the women he fell in love with and put on pedestals,” said Abigail. “He liked his male friends to be as flawed as possible—outrageously so, ideally. Damon’s fantasy dinner party would consist of sociopathic, objectionable men and perfect, beautiful women.”

“So what was he playing at with wife number three?” Verity said bitterly. She looked at Sam. “You’ve met the latest Mrs. Damon Blundy, I take it?”

Sam nodded.

“It’s out of the question that Damon would have loved a woman like that,” said Abigail. “What did he want with her? Why did he keep her so long?”

“You asked before if we could imagine Damon being a consistently kind, loving husband,” said Verity. “Is that how Hannah described him?”

Sam saw no reason why he shouldn’t answer honestly. “Yes, it was.”

“Well, then either she’s lying or . . .” Verity broke off.

“Or what?” Sam asked.

“Or Damon was planning something,” said Abigail. “If I were you, I’d be wondering pretty hard about what that something was, and who might have found out about it and decided to stop him.”

“IT SOUNDS WHINY TO say, ‘Why me?’ but I have wondered why me, many times,” Keiran Holland told Sellers. “I’d never written a word against Damon, never even mentioned him. Yes, I’d expressed opinions he disagreed with, and I know bullies like him need targets, and anyone will do, but he did seem to have a special antipathy toward me in particular.”

They were in a room Holland had described without cracking a smile as “the drawing room” in the journalist’s home in Wandsworth. Holland’s wife, Iona Dennis, sat in a wing-backed armchair in the corner, apparently happy to let her husband do all the talking. She hadn’t spoken yet, and had greeted Sellers, when Holland had introduced him, with a silent smile. She had a book on her knee with her own name on the spine. Sellers assumed it was either by her or about her. The former seemed more likely.

“And Paula Riddiough,” he said. “Damon Blundy attacked her as often as he attacked you.” Seconds after mentioning Riddiough’s name, he regretted it. Holland looked stricken, and Iona turned her face away, as if the former MP’s name were a rock Sellers had lobbed at her.

This is what cheating does to people. This is the reality. Say the wrong name in the wrong house and the whole house falls down.

Sellers banished the disturbing thought from his mind.