As he saw her, his lips mouthed, ‘Oh, hell!’ and he froze, swaying a little, his face so pale it seemed as if his features had been drawn on white paper with a charcoal stick.

From behind the boundary fence one man called, ‘I’m sure he went that way. Let’s go after him. I’m not losing a good story now.’ Footsteps began moving towards them again.

That must be the press, who had been in the news themselves for hounding Winter, trying to get photos of his injuries. Even Sophie, who didn’t pay much attention to the doings of celebrities, knew about that.

It was the way her trespasser’s shoulders slumped that touched her heart and made up her mind. Placing one forefinger on her lips, she beckoned with the other hand.

He stared at her so numbly she had to repeat the gesture before he mouthed, ‘Thanks,’ and moved forward.

She led the way back to the house, walking on the grass instead of the paths, trying not to make any noise. As they got near the kitchen door, she heard a voice call, ‘There’s a gate here!’

Unlocking the rear door, she went quickly inside and waited for Jez to join her before locking the door carefully behind them. She’d had a burglar soon after she moved in the previous year, so she never, ever left an outer door or window unlocked, not even if she was only walking round her own garden. That seemed very sad, but she lived in an upmarket area and she’d accepted the fact that it made her more of a target for burglars.

‘Come through into my sitting room. It looks out onto an internal courtyard, so you’ll be safe from prying eyes there.’

He followed her, limping slightly. ‘I’m grateful.’

She gestured to a chair. ‘Do sit down. You look exhausted.’

‘I am. It’s taking longer to recover than I’d expected. I thought I’d covered my tracks today, but those sods seem to be psychic about sussing out where I’m going.’ He studied her face and said with a wry smile, ‘You recognised me.’

‘Hard not to. I enjoy your music, have done for years. And when you had the accident, it headed the TV news for a few days, as have your visits to hospital for plastic surgery. I didn’t know they’d let you out of hospital after the latest.’

‘They haven’t. I let myself out early this morning, couldn’t face another day penned up in there. Thank goodness this was the last operation. The gutter press had been baying at the door for days and if I hadn’t had a bodyguard outside my room, that fellow presently lurking next door would have got his precious photo of this and earned a fortune at my expense.’ His voice was bitter as he jerked a thumb towards the scarred side of his face.

He stared blindly into the distance for a moment or two then said in a voice that grated with frustration, ‘I’ll pay you well to let me stay here until I can get someone from my security team to pick me up.’