‘I see.’ I pictured the kind of men Rachel hung out with: long hair, beards, tattoos, attitude.

‘Andrew . . .’ She looked at the ground.

Uh-oh, I thought. When someone says your name like that it’s rarely good news. ‘Yes?’

‘Have you got five minutes for a chat before your train?’

‘Um.’ I checked my watch. ‘I’ve got fifteen, actually. What is it?’

She got off the bike. ‘Let’s go get a cup of tea and I’ll tell you. It’s about Tilly.’

She bought two cups of tea and we sat down at a greasy Formica table in the station cafe. Rachel’s expression and tone of voice had me worried. Was there something wrong with Tilly that I didn’t know about?

Rachel fidgeted with the zip on her leather jacket. When she spoke to me, she avoided eye contact, her focus slipping around the room. ‘I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while. But I need your word that you won’t tell Tilly I’ve spoken to you. She’d freak out and fire me.’

Now I was really concerned. ‘It depends what it’s about.’

She fidgeted some more, her hand straying repeatedly to her mouth as she spoke. ‘I’m really worried about her. I’m sure you know that she’s always been prone to black moods, days when she is snappy and down and, to be frank, feels sorry for herself. But recently it’s been getting worse and worse. The good days are less common than the bad days now.’

I was shocked. I didn’t know that Tilly suffered from black moods, beyond the occasional grump that everyone in the world suffers.

‘I think the doctor has put her on a different antidepressant, but since Jonathan dumped her . . .’

I raised my palms. ‘Whoa. Hold on. Antidepressants? And who’s Jonathan?’

She appeared genuinely shocked, meeting my eye for the first time. ‘I didn’t realise you didn’t know. I thought you and Tilly were close.’

‘Obviously not as close as I thought.’

‘I’m sorry. OK, the crux of it is this: about a month ago she started seeing this guy who she met at the pool. I take her swimming a couple of times a week.’

‘That’s Jonathan? Is he disabled too?’

‘Yes – he’s an ex-soldier, lost his leg beneath the knee when he stepped on a mine in Iraq. Anyway, Tilly was completely smitten with him. She talked about him all the time.’

Not with me, I thought.

‘He dumped her a couple of weeks ago. Out of nowhere. She thought everything was going brilliantly. She’s been distraught ever since.’

I drummed my fingers on the table. The pub was empty and silent apart from the burbling fruit machine in the corner and an old man talking to his dog.

‘Are you sure this is nothing more than her being heartbroken?’

She raised an eyebrow.