‘Miss McLennan, you’ve had a string of high-profile victories in recent years–how do you handle your celebrity?’ The car filled with the deafening silence of dead air before Brodie McLennan replied in a softer voice, ‘Trust me, Tony, I’m run off my feet visiting clients in Saughton Prison and jointly managing a law firm…life’s too hectic to think about anything else. Thank you so much for your time and interest.’

His mobile phone bleeped to indicate an incoming text as he turned the radio off. Christ, he thought, Kelly again with her desperate clinginess–he hated that sort of woman, but they were just so easy to get. What would she be offering now? When would she get it into her thick skull that women like her had absolutely nothing to offer? They thought that sex was such a bargaining tool, but they had never realized that Graham Marshall had sex with himself, not with them–they were just there at the same time, and by far the less interesting partner. As soon as he parked, the message shone: Ur sins will catch up with u. Rag Doll pub in 1hr or i go to papers

This must be her idea of intelligence. Laughable really. Marshall shuddered at the spelling rather than the content of the text, and flipped the phone closed. He sighed wearily before switching the mobile off and putting it in the glove compartment. What was this? Did Kelly think he was going to become the perfect boyfriend because she was pretending she knew things about him? She knew nothing. A scalpel held to her in a hotel room, a bit of rough sex in the afternoon; she probably thought the papers would be lining up to take her picture if she went public.