The Uninvited

in your Dubai report?’ She glares at me.‘Come on, Hesketh. The girl on theskyscraper site.’ She is right. I committedwhat is called a sin of omission. But Iknew I was doing it. I was fully aware. Idon’t speak. ‘And you still have thatbruise, don’t you?’ You’d think it wouldhave faded by now. But it’s as clear as afresh tattoo. ‘Which didn’t go in yourreport either. Have you told VictorWhybray that yet?’I look at the swirls of grease theaubergine has left on my plate and begin torock.Kaitlin used to call me ‘waterproof’,referring to the ‘impenetrable skin’ sheclaimed I had: a heavy rind that protectedand distanced me not just from her, but