Tom was silent for a moment. Nathan had been a friend of his brother Jack for many years, at a time when Jack was at his most disruptive. Tom and his parents had blamed Nathan for Jack’s behaviour, but as the years passed Tom had begun to understand Jack better and knew it was no one else’s fault. School had frustrated him, and he had always been in trouble. He was a genius in one field and one field only. Give him a computer and he could make it sing, but ask him to conjugate verbs in French and his resentment at being holed up in a classroom would kick in. He had gone on to make a fortune, but that was before the speedboat accident that changed everything.

Did Tom want to see Nathan? He wasn’t sure. Even though he couldn’t be blamed for Jack’s poor behaviour, Tom had always thought Nathan was a bit of a tosser.

‘Did he say what he wanted to talk to me about?’ Tom asked.

‘No, sir. I did ask, but he said it was a private matter.’

Tom sighed. ‘Okay, we’ll be about forty minutes or so. He can either wait or leave his number and I’ll call him. Thanks, Keith.’

Tom rang off.

‘You didn’t seem too happy about that,’ Becky said. ‘Not somebody you want to see?’

‘He was a friend of Jack’s, and every bit as bad – if not worse – than my brother.’

‘Ah,’ Becky said, and left it at that. She knew talking about Jack was usually off-limits.

As Tom pulled out of the car park, he realised there was something he needed to ask Becky and thought carefully about his choice of words.

‘I’m not quite sure how to put this, Becky, so forgive me if it sounds offensive, but did you ever tell Mark what happened to Jack?’

He wished now that he had asked the question when they were parked, so he could have looked at Becky’s face.

‘No. He believes what everybody else believes. Why are you asking me?’ There was a slight note of indignation in Becky’s voice, as if Tom were testing her loyalty to him against hers for Mark.

‘I know you well enough to understand that you believe in total honesty, that’s all. So I wondered how you squared it.’

‘Well that’s an easy one. I’d never withhold anything from Mark that impacted on our relationship – never lie about anything I’ve done – but Jack isn’t my secret, Tom. If Mark ever found out, he would understand perfectly that it wasn’t my story to tell.’

Tom was quiet for a moment.

‘Have you told Louisa?’ Becky asked.

Tom’s usual response to any questions about his private life was ‘Mind your own business’ but that didn’t seem appropriate right now.

‘No. Not yet.’