As he went to knock again, the door opened, leaving him like a Chinese lucky cat offering an awkward power salute. She was buttoning up her coat, surprised to find him there. Her hair was a mess, her swollen-lidded eyes wild behind their unflattering glasses. It was obvious she’d been sobbing for a long, long time. And drinking. He could smell it on her. Her car keys were in her hand.

She looked at him, disconcerted. ‘You forgot your smile, Luca.’

‘May I come in?’ Be kind to her, Luca. If Pax wanted to pickle herself on his watch, fine. But she would do so without getting behind the wheel.

‘I’m running an hour late.’

An hour in which she’d consumed both Blair’s bottles of wine judging by the glazed expression.

‘This won’t take a minute.’

She looked poised to tell him to go to hell, but then she let out a cry and turned abruptly back inside, rattling through the cottage to fetch her handbag. ‘Oh God, where’s my bloody phone?’

Pushing the door closed behind him, Luca followed. ‘You threw it in a skip.’

‘I have a new one.’ She started pulling open drawers and cupboards at random. It was, inexplicably, in the fridge. She lobbed it in her bag. The big headlamp gaze turned to him, daring him to comment. ‘What is it you want, Luca?’ She was brittle with self-control, no trace of any tears now.

‘I’m not sure you should be driving.’

‘Says the man who’s scarier behind the wheel than Mr Magoo. You don’t have worry, I’m perfectly safe to drive, Luca.’

‘I’m sorry, but I don’t agree.’

Her jaw set, a thousand freckles framing a determined chin dimple. She plunged back through the kitchen, returning with the two unopened bottles of Barossa Valley shiraz. ‘Take them, although they’re wasted on you and Mummy. You two really should start up the Compton chapter of the Temperance Society. She took one of the neighbour’s keys away in the pub car park to stop him driving not long ago. He wasn’t even over the limit, for the record.’

He could smell the sweet hit of her breath. Was it port? Cassis? She must have raided the old boy’s larder. ‘Let me drive you. I could use the practice.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. You’re needed here. I only have to stick my head in to the village school then pick up Kes from his grandparents.’ The deep voice wasn’t remotely slurred, but there was a wilful agitation that told Luca to trust his instinct. She was saying something about her in-laws taking her son out for the day. ‘They’re on a sodding steam train. I’ve told them if they’re not back with him when I get there, I’m going to stop the train by waving big red knickers. Now where did I leave those keys?’

She started looking for the car keys she’d put down when searching for her phone. ‘Oh come on, Pax, think!’ She stood still and swung round. Her eyes, red-rimmed and unfocussed, darting from object to object.