Andi stared down at hers and started to cry.

He stared at Sophie in dismay, then turned back to the younger woman. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.’

She gulped and cradled the flowers against her chest. ‘It’s OK. I cry all the time at the moment. I just – can’t remember the last time anyone bought me flowers. They’re lovely.’

‘We’ll make this quick, if you like.’

He questioned Andi gently, pausing when emotion overwhelmed her, and noting down her answers in shorthand.

‘I’ve not seen anyone using that for a while,’ Sophie said.

‘Not everyone wants me to use a voice recorder and I didn’t think Andi would today. Am I right?’

She nodded.

‘That’s all I needed to ask, but I wanted to see you in person. It helps me to understand the whole picture. If I want to use any of this in an article, I’ll OK it with you first, I promise. All right?’

‘Yes. I think I’ll go and rest now.’

But Sophie noticed that Andi went towards the meditation room, not her bedroom.

‘It must be hard on you,’ Peter said quietly.

‘The hardest thing is to feel so helpless.’

‘I wondered if you could do me another favour? I need to speak to Jez Winter, but that PA of his won’t let me. Says he’s busy at the moment. Could you have a word with him and ask him to speak to me?’

‘What is it about?’

‘The attack on him. I may have turned something up. I wasn’t sure whether to tell his PA about that. It’s fairly confidential stuff.’

She hesitated, then said, ‘I could phone him now, if you like. There’s a gate between our gardens. If he’s not doing anything, he might nip across. No one would see you two meeting then.’

Peter nodded slowly and smiled. ‘He’s the one you care about, isn’t he? Your voice goes softer when you speak about him.’

She didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. ‘Could be. It’s early days, though. I’ll go and ring him from my office. I won’t be long.’

The phone rang and when Donna saw the number of the caller, she beckoned to Jez. ‘It’s Sophie.’

He couldn’t stop himself smiling as he snatched it up. While she was looking after her daughter, he treasured every contact with her. ‘Hi, there.’

‘Hi, Jez. Look, I’ve got Peter Shane here. He’s still working on his exposé of Talbin. He’d like to speak to you. You could nip through the gardens and come here, then no one would see you meeting him.’

‘You’re sure it’s worth it?’

‘I don’t know what his information is, but I trust him not to waste our time.’

‘I’ll have to bring Kevin and Donna. They manage that side of my affairs.’

‘That’s all right.’

‘We’ll come straight away.’ He welcomed any excuse to see her again, hadn’t felt like this since he was a teenager.

He realised he was standing smiling at nothing and forced himself to get moving.