Dorothy heard a noise from the back seat. She leaned in, heard the noise again, a whimper. She spotted him, a small border collie with one eye. The dog climbed forward from the back and licked the driver’s head wound, tasting its owner’s blood. It whined and shrank away.

Dorothy turned to the young cop, who was shaking.

‘What the hell?’ she said.

2

JENNY

‘Cheers.’

Jenny smiled at Liam as they both hit their drinks, a double Hendricks for her, a pint of Moretti for him. Maybe they should’ve been on champagne, given they were celebrating his divorce, but who pays pub champagne prices? Anyway, divorce is always melancholic, Jenny knew that well. Mingled with the relief was the admission of defeat. You weren’t good enough to make the marriage work, even if the other person was a piece of shit and you were well rid of them.

She looked around The King’s Wark. Ancient, rough stonework, large fireplace, mismatched wooden tables and chairs. Just a handful of drinkers this time of day, suits from Pacific Quay on early lunch.

‘So you’re young, free and single again,’ Jenny said, deadpan.

Liam pulled at the skin under his eyes. ‘I haven’t been young for years.’

‘You’re younger than me.’

He did look tired, the divorce had taken its toll over the last six months. But he was still handsome, those green eyes, the flecks of grey through his black hair. He still looked after himself.

He smiled. ‘That’s not hard.’

‘Hey.’ She faked outrage, punched his shoulder, felt the solid muscle.

She looked around the pub. ‘Nice touch, coming here.’

‘This is our place.’

It hadn’t been a conventional way to meet. Jenny was hired by Liam’s now ex-wife, Orla, to find evidence he was cheating. Jenny had just started working for her mum, helping out at both the Skelf’s funeral director’s and private investigator’s. She had no idea what she was doing, but she followed Liam to his artist’s studio round the corner, then sat in this pub watching him. Which is where she saw Orla’s failed sting attempt – she’d hired an escort to seduce him, to entrap him so that Orla could file for divorce. Jenny sprung a trap of her own, got evidence that Orla was fucking her gardener, which she presented to Liam. Again, right here in The King’s Wark.

It wasn’t the most auspicious start, but Jenny’s own marriage to Craig began with true love and wound up with her husband lying and cheating, so maybe this was better.

‘Thanks for everything,’ Liam said.

Jenny shook her head. ‘It was just a few pictures.’

‘I’m not talking about the evidence,’ he said. ‘I’m talking about us.’