As he walked towards his office, he reflected on why she was doing this now. He knew that the few words, the few gestures he did make that she could interpret as ‘warm’ were enough–no doubt she had visions of them sharing dinner with his parents, choosing an engagement ring, having babies. It was slightly intriguing to wonder whether she was actually willing to play the game a little–had she involved someone else? Was silly little Kelly trying to get what she wanted? The thought that she might have told someone else about them set Marshall thinking about other possibilities. It could be a blackmailer after easy money. It wouldn’t be the first. He’d had dealings with greedy men before and he wasn’t the one who came off worse. However, this time he suspected it was nothing more than Kelly Adams thinking she could make him do whatever she wanted. Really, the notion that calling his wife would be a disaster was laughable. Still, some credit was due to Kelly–she’d recovered rather quickly from the blubbering mess he’d left in the hotel room not so long ago. He had been working hard, so he called his secretary to postpone his afternoon appointments until later that week. A few easily rescheduled sessions would give him the chance to relax with a drink anyway. He rubbed his temples for a few moments, and collected his thoughts before turning the car round and heading back into town. He had time to play.

Chapter Four

The afternoon trade at the Rag Doll was brisk, but it didn’t hide the fact that it was a down-at-heel drinking den that Dr Marshall wouldn’t normally be seen dead in. The regulars turned to stare at him as he entered the gloomy pub–for a moment he wondered whether it had been a good idea to park the Porsche outside. The owner of the bar was a huge man in a kilt who was hardly making the atmosphere friendlier as far as Marshall was concerned. He heard a customer refer to the man as Glasgow Joe; he was still behind the bar, not serving, just keeping his eye on the place, keeping his eye on Graham. It made Marshall uneasy; what was he looking at? Surely his money was the same as anyone else’s, so why did the huge man keep looking at him–was he a friend of Kelly’s? Is that why she’d asked to meet here? Was he in on all of this with her? Marshall told himself that he was an intelligent man, that there was no point in thinking of things that were probably nowhere near the truth. If Kelly was behind this, it was very straightforward. She just wanted money to make her feel better.