‘Of course not,’ Tom replied. ‘Charlie’s very fond of Harry, and I know that he, well, as far as I can read it, he’s a bit more than just fond of you.’

‘Well, he’s got a funny way of showing it,’ Holly replied. ‘I suppose he asked you to come here and speak to me, did he? Is he hiding out at home, or has he buggered off back to London?’

‘No, he didn’t,’ Tom said. ‘He doesn’t know I’m here. And I didn’t come here to defend him. I know it’s difficult, Holly, but you’re both adults and you’ll work it out. I’m actually here about the source of that AllFeed story.’

Holly’s head snapped up again from her order book. ‘Do you know who it was?’

‘I’m pretty sure it was Miles Fairbrother.’

Holly sighed. ‘Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s had it in for me since I bought this place.’

‘There’s a bit more to it than that,’ Tom said and, glancing behind him, showed her the piece of paper he’d shown to Charlie the day before.

‘I don’t understand…’

As Tom explained, Holly’s face drained of all colour.

‘I had no idea he’d been paying off Hugo. No wonder he’s pissed off. And you reckon he wants rid of Charlie because of his association with me. What a toxic bastard.’

‘Of course, there’s no way to prove it, but this is pretty strong circumstantial evidence,’ Tom said. ‘My advice to you is to let it lie, though. Issue a denial and the story’ll keep running. Confront Miles and he’ll just deny it anyway. You’ve nothing to gain.’

‘Is this what it’s always going to be like for Charlie?’ Holly mused, half to herself. ‘Having to watch his step all the time, be careful who he pisses off, careful who he… who he loves?’

‘I’m afraid it goes with the territory,’ Tom said. ‘There’ll always be someone who wants to either take him down or exploit him politically. He’s a good man, though, Holly, even though you find that hard to believe at the moment. And he does still want to find a solution to all this. The problem is, he’s learning all the time.’ He sighed. ‘I think it was one of the more recent Prime Ministers who said that you enter office at your least competent and get booted out when you’re the most capable. He’s not been in the job that long.’

‘I know,’ Holly said. ‘But I’m just so angry with him. I put my faith in him to support us no matter what, and at the first sign of difficulty he’s dropped us.’

‘Give him time, Holly.’