CHAPTER TWENTY
'You've excelled yourself again, Eva!' said Brian Appleby, editor of Sydney Business magazine, as he bit into a savoury tart, spilling a trail of pastry crumbs down his ample front.
'The vol-au-vents are to die for!' trilled his wife, Maria. 'Did you make them yourself?'
Eva smiled and nodded.
'You're a marvel! How do you do it all?' Maria waved her arm around to encompass the huge marquee on the back lawn humming with chatter and laughter, the lit fountains and the soft, lilting tones of the violin duo in the corner. A couple of press photographers prowled around, taking photos for the social pages.
To an outsider it would look like just another cocktail party; to those in the know, it was not up to the usual standard of Eva's soirees. A third of the people who'd previ
