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so confident—superior, even. She was wearing a black suit.’
    ‘Naomi, what happened at Mr Haworth’s house this afternoon?’ Charlie glanced at her watch. Olivia was sure to be back by now.
    ‘I think I saw something.’ Naomi sighed and rubbed her forehead. ‘I had a panic attack, the worst I’ve ever had. I lost my footing and fell down on the grass. I felt as if I was suffocating. I got up as soon as I could and tried to run away. Look, I’m sure I saw something, okay?’
    ‘Through the window?’ asked Simon.
    ‘Yes. I’m starting to feel clammy now just talking about it, even though Robert’s house is miles away.’
    Charlie frowned, leaning forward in her chair. Had she missed something? ‘ What did you see?’ she asked.
    ‘I don’t know! All I know is, I panicked and had to escape. My whole reason for being there was . . . obliterated suddenly, and I had to get away as quickly as possible. I couldn’t stand to be anywhere near the house. I must have seen something. I was fine until that moment.’
    It was all far too hazy for Charlie’s liking. People either saw things or they didn’t. ‘Did you see anything that led you to believe harm had come to Robert?’ she asked. ‘Any blood, anything broken, any evidence of a fight or struggle having taken place?’
    ‘I don’t know .’ Naomi’s voice was petulant. ‘I can tell you all the things I remember seeing: a red rug, a wood-laminate floor, loads of not very tasteful pottery houses in all shapes and sizes, a candle, a tape measure, a cabinet with glass doors, a television, a sofa, a chair—’
    ‘Naomi!’ Charlie interrupted the woman’s agitated chanting. ‘Do you think you might be assuming—mistakenly—that this sudden reaction must have been an immediate one to some mysterious, unidentified stimulus, something you saw through the window? Couldn’t it have been an eruption of stress that had been mounting for a while?’
    ‘No. I don’t think so,’ she said flatly. ‘Go to Robert’s house. You’ll find something. I know you will. If I’m wrong, I’ll apologise for wasting your time. But I’m not wrong.’
    ‘What happened after the panic attack?’ asked Charlie. ‘You say you tried to run away . . .’
    ‘Juliet came after me. She called me by my name. She knew my surname as well. How did she know?’ Naomi looked utterly bewildered for a moment, like a lost child. ‘Robert made sure to keep his two lives absolutely separate.’
    Women are such idiots, Charlie thought, including herself in the insult. ‘Perhaps she found out. Wives often do.’
    ‘She said to me “You’re better off without him. I’ve done you a favour.” Or words to that effect. That’s as good as admitting that she’s done something to him, isn’t it?’
    ‘Not really,’ said Simon. ‘She could have meant that she’s persuaded him to end his relationship with you.’
    Naomi flattened her lips into a line. ‘You didn’t hear her tone. She wanted me to think she’d done something much worse than that. She wanted me to fear the worst.’
    ‘Maybe she did,’ Charlie reasoned aloud, ‘but that doesn’t mean the worst has happened. She’s bound to be angry with you, isn’t she?’
    Naomi looked offended. Or perhaps disgusted. ‘Doesn’t either of you know anybody who always turns up half an hour early for everything because they think the world will end if they’re a second late?’ she demanded. ‘Someone who phones if they’re only going to be five minutes early to apologise for being “almost late”?’
    Simon’s mother, thought Charlie. She could tell from the way he hunched over his notes that he was thinking the same thing.
    ‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ said Naomi. ‘Imagine one day you go to meet them and they don’t turn up. And they don’t phone. You’d know, wouldn’t you, as soon as they were five minutes late, even one minute late, that something bad had happened? Well? Wouldn’t you?’
    ‘Leave it