‘Of course,’ he said, ‘but if you’re asking for it, the answer’s no. I’m not going to start handing out employee information to anyone who’s not police. I’ll also ask you not to come in again like this. We’re a business, you can see how busy we are, it’s disruptive, and it’s intimidating for my staff. I don’t want them or anyone else thinking that whatever’s happened to Becca is connected to The Spot. All right?’ He looked at their glasses and Maggie’s burger plate, empty now bar the salad garnish. ‘These are on us. Lisa’ll close your tab.’

When she got home, Dennis was up again. He silenced the TV as she dropped onto the sofa. ‘How’d you get on, love?’

‘All right.’

‘Maggie’s got a lot of work on at the moment, hasn’t she?’

‘Yeah. I’m surprised she’s managed on her own ’til now.’

‘Well, as you know, she’s a very competent woman.’ Her dad had always been frank in his admiration of Maggie, which had confused Robin when she was younger. Didn’t Christine mind? Didn’t she feel threatened, Maggie being different to her in basically every way? She’d have read criticism into his praise of someone so opposite. The pair of them, Dennis and Maggie, were far more alike than he and her mother. On bad days, she’d wondered what life would have been like if Maggie had actually been her mother. As a child, without Christine’s restraining hand, she’d have been twice the size, for sure; Maggie and Dennis were a bad enough influence on each other, goading each other on to second helpings and desserts. God knows what they would have fed a child, left to their own devices.

‘Speaking of which,’ he said now, ‘competent women, I mean – I wanted to say, go a bit easier on Luke, will you?’

‘What?’

‘Your mother said you were at each other’s throats again from the moment you walked in tonight. You’re too old for this behaviour – you’re thirty-five, love.’

‘He’s thirty-seven.’

‘Come on, you’re making my point for me. Both of you are too old but I’m asking you to be the bigger person.’

‘Why?’ Petulant-sounding, even to herself.

‘Because you are,’ he said, simply. ‘Or you could be.’

For a moment Robin was lost for words.

‘Think about it. Do you think it’s easy for Luke, being your brother?’

‘How hard can it be? I’ve barely been here for the past decade and a half.’

‘That’s probably not a good thing as far as he’s concerned, whatever you might think. And look at it from his point of view – he could say that you’ve spent your whole life showing him up: you went to the grammar, university, you’ve got a great career; he’s …’

‘Had a great career.’