‘No thanks, it’s not important. Like you say, it can’t have gone far. It must be in there somewhere. Anyway,’ he said, closing the door on all the chaos, ‘how’s things?’

The dogs, bored with standing still, were whining and straining at their leads. We released them to romp about the field, sniffing around unknown territory, whilst we followed on at a walking pace. I told him about Nick’s stroke, and how I was working on the shop, and how Verbena Clarke had sacked me because she suspected I’d pinched her earrings.

He looked horrified. ‘She can’t believe that, surely?’

‘Well, the damn things are missing,’ I told him, ‘and it looks like I was the last person to go in her bedroom.’

‘But she hasn’t accused you directly?’

‘No, she just sent the cops around to question me. Although Ricky and Morris don’t believe they’d have gone that far if I wasn’t an associate of known criminals.’

Paul laughed. ‘What? You mean Nick?’

‘Well, I don’t know any others − apart from you, of course. And he was in prison once, wasn’t he, for receiving stolen goods?’

‘More than once, but I don’t suppose he was doing anything a lot of other people weren’t doing, and it was all a long time ago.’

I frowned. ‘You ever hear Nick mention his family?’

He shrugged. ‘I didn’t know he had any.’

‘A son and daughter, apparently …’ I stopped to yell at Schnitzel, who was eating something in the long grass, probably something nasty.

‘I’ve never heard him mention them,’ Paul responded. ‘Why?’

‘It’s seems sad, that’s all. He’s old and alone and vulnerable. He could do with some family support.’

‘He’s not alone.’ Paul grinned and patted me on the shoulder. ‘He’s got you.’

Later on, we met for a drink. Paul showed me pictures of the new baby, Molly. He was planning to stay up in Nottingham for a few months, coming down now and again to pick up work. He was still trying to persuade Carrie to accompany him home, still battling her parents, who were exerting all their pressure to make her stay where she was.

I made the right cooing noises about the baby. But I was relieved he was going back. Seeing him again was like being prodded with a sharp stick, reaffirming my desire and a sense of solitude that I was not often conscious of. He told me he was planning to head off to Nottingham that evening. Just as well, I thought.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN