‘Hi Tiff, what’s up? … Oh my God! No! … When? … How’s Drew taking it? … I’m not surprised… No, you finish getting ready for work. I’ll come straight home.’ She stood up and attempted to wind her scarf round her neck, getting it tangled round her arm instead. ‘After everything he’s done for me, I can’t not be there… Yeah, I know… Look, I’m leaving now. I’ll be home as soon as I can. Have you rung work to say you’ll be late? … Okay. See you soon.’

Jemma disconnected the call and tossed her phone into her bag with an angry little cry before yanking her tangled scarf from her arm and dropping it on her seat.

‘Everything alright?’ Clearly it wasn’t.

‘I’m really sorry, Sam. I’m going to have to bail.’ She pulled on her coat. ‘That was Tiff. We share a flat with her twin sister, Leah, and their cousin, Drew. It would appear that Drew’s ex has just come back on the scene after ghosting him a few years ago.’ She grimaced and took a deep breath as she draped her scarf round her neck. ‘Drew never got over it and he’s apparently in a right state. Tiff has to go to work and Leah’s away at a conference so I need to be there to make sure he doesn’t leave the flat looking for a fight or something. He’s a big lad so he could do some damage.’ She flung her bag over her shoulder. ‘Sorry.’

I grabbed my pad and coat. ‘I’ll walk you to the tube.’

‘Okay. Thanks. You can give me your take on the situation on the way. Have you ever heard of being ghosted?’

‘Is that like being haunted?’

‘No. Don’t worry. I hadn’t heard of it either until it happened to me.’

We exited the pub and headed in the direction of the tube, while Jemma told me about how both she and Drew had been ghosted by men who they’d thought loved them. Some sleuthing on her part had discovered the reason why her fiancé, Scott, had ghosted her although she said it was a long story and she didn’t have time to give me any more detail than that. Drew, on the other hand, had never found out why his relationship had ended and it had eaten away at him for years which was why the ex being back on the scene was a big deal.

We stopped outside the tube station. ‘This is me,’ Jemma said.

‘You said that Drew is a big lad. How big?’

‘He’s about 6’ 2” and works out a lot.’

‘No offence, but if he decides he’s going out, I don’t think there’s much you’ll be able to do to stop him.’

Her face fell. She clearly hadn’t thought about that.