For once, Hugo wasn’t lounging on the sofa. He was asleep – or passed out – on the floor with three empty wine bottles for company.

Her nose wrinkling, Clancy coughed at the sour smell, leaving the door open to let in some much-overdue fresh air. Hugo roused, blinking blearily as he heaved himself up on one elbow. ‘Oh. It’s you.’

‘Alice hasn’t returned then?’ Clancy asked, as she headed for the stairs, determining that her next job would have to be finding a new, however temporary, abode.

‘No.’ Hugo sounded pitiful. ‘Genevieve has been here looking for her so she’s not with her either. Where have you been? Have you seen her?’

‘Nope. Looks like she’s gone.’

He fixed Clancy with an ugly look. ‘Don’t know what you’re looking so pleased about. Alice doesn’t really like you, you know. She laughs at you behind your back about this shithole little village.’ Then he added, with evident triumph, ‘And Alice and Genevieve queered your pitch with the people at the B&B.’

Clancy halted, her knees suddenly turning to water.

‘That’s right,’ Hugo jeered, satisfaction thick in his voice at having brought her up short. ‘They’ve been egging me on to be obnoxious to you too.’

Clancy’s heart pounded so heavily the blood roared in her ears and she thought she might actually have toppled over if an arm hadn’t snaked around her waist. ‘You really are slime, Hugo,’ said Aaron’s voice. He must have drawn up just behind her after all. He turned Clancy to look into her face. ‘He’s not necessarily a reliable source of information.’

‘I don’t know,’ she gasped, the air feeling too thick to breathe. ‘It could be true, couldn’t it? Genevieve tried to make mischief with your parents right under my nose. It would have been easy to work on Kaz behind my back.’

Aaron stroked Clancy’s back. ‘I’ll speak to Genevieve—’ he began grimly.

With an effort, Clancy straightened her backbone. ‘Thanks. But I don’t care about Genevieve. It’s time I tried to get hold of Alice.’ She took an instant’s strength from his warmth, then gently disengaged herself and squared her shoulders. She could cope alone. It’s what she was good at. ‘Can I ring you in a bit, when I’ve had time to sort myself out?’

Disappointment and doubt warred in his voice but he released her. ‘Come and use my Wi-Fi to make your call then. I have an errand to run, so you can have your privacy. I’m not leaving you here like this.’ He glared at Hugo over Clancy’s shoulder.

She didn’t argue. The possible scale of the betrayal from Alice was just too much. She muttered, ‘Thanks,’ took out her car keys and trailed outside. In moments she was pulling away again, driving drearily towards Potato Hall Row. Realising that Aaron was no longer in her rear-view mirror and seeing Lee’s van outside, she got out of the car and found she could pick up the Wi-Fi if she positioned herself halfway around the workshop, out of sight of any of the windows. She didn’t feel like talking to Lee just yet. He was way too entangled in her issues.