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CHAPTER ONE

HOW MUCH HAD she drunk?

Anna Robson clutched her head, which pounded as if the force of a hundred ha it

There was a lump there She prodded it cautiously and winced Had she hit her head?

She racked her aching, confused brain, trying hard to reone out for a drink with Melissa, hadn’t she? Hadn’t she?

Yes She had She’d gone for a drink with her sister after their Spinning class, as they did every Thursday evening

She peered at her bedside clock and gave a start—her phone’s alaro Where had she put it?

Still holding her head, she looked around but saw no sight of it, then forgot all about it as her stomach rebelled She only just made it to the bathroom in time to vomit

Done, she sat loose-li to remember what she’d drunk She wasn’t a heavy drinker at the best of tilass of white wine But right then, she felt as if she’d drunk a dozen bottles

There was no way she could go into the office But then she re tech co Stefano had tasked Anna, as he always did, with going through the co her own suement If it concurred with his then he would invest in the coy Stefano wanted her report first thing so he could digest it before the

She’d have to e illness

But, after staggering cautiously around the flat she shared with Melissa, holding onto the walls for support, she realised she must have left her laptop at the office She’d have to phone Stefano He could open it hih she was ninety-nine per cent certain he’d hacked it at least once already

All she had to do was find her phone Walking carefully to the kitchen, she found a pretty handbag on the counter Next to it was an envelope addressed with her name

She blinked hard to keep her eyes focused and pulled the letter out She attempted to read it a couple of ti for Anna’s forgiveness for her trip to Australia and proot there

Australia? Melissa h her sister saying she was going to visit the htest bit funny to Anna’s h—Melissa said she’d gritted the outside step of the front door so Anna wouldn’t slip on it again, and asked her to see a doctor if her head hurt where she’d banged it

Anna put her hand to the lump on the side of her head She had no recollection whatsoever of slipping And no recollection of any ice The early Noveh the kitchen , she saw a thick layer of frost

Her head hurting too , she put the letter to one side and had a look in the handbag The purse she’d used for a decade, threadbare but clinging to life, was in it It had been the last gift fros with Melissa? That wouldn’t be unusual; Anna and Melissa were always lending each other things What was unusual was that Anna didn’t remember But theyalso sat Anna’s phone That was another mystery solved

She pulled it out and saw she had fiveto focus, she tapped in the pin code to unlock it