Claire smiled grimly. “You’ve certainly come up with some interesting leads. Well done.”

“Thanks,” Lindsay said drily. “There’s also someone who used to work at the Clarion with an ax to grind against Alison. A guy called Jimmy Mills. Alison made some extremely unpleasant allegations about him, and he lost all his shifts on the sports desk as a result. I’ll be checking that out too.”

Before Lindsay could say more, the phone rang and Claire jumped to her feet. “Excuse me,” she said, hurrying out of the room. “I’m expecting a call from a client. I won’t be long.”

Left alone with Cordelia, Lindsay felt wrong-footed. She stood up and picked up her jacket. “I’d better be going anyway,” she said awkwardly. “I’ll just wait and see if Claire’s got anything else to say, then I’ll be on my way.”

“Don’t rush off,” Cordelia said, getting to her feet. “Look, Lindsay, I know this is all a bit difficult, but I want us to stay friends. I’d hoped that if I could help you by working with you on this business that maybe we could build some bridges.”

“I think we’ve burned all our bridges, don’t you?” Lindsay said bitterly, walking over to study one of the quilted wall-hangings. “Besides, you seem to get along much better without me. Judging by what the critics have to say about the new book, I’d say that my departure was the best thing that ever happened to you, professionally speaking.”

“Have you read it yet?” Cordelia asked, moving toward her.

Lindsay deliberately walked away from her, putting a sofa between the two of them. Her face felt as if the muscles had seized and it seemed to take an extraordinary effort to speak. “No,” she said. “I guess I got used to getting complimentary copies of Cordelia Brown books. I haven’t got back into the habit of actually buying them.”

Cordelia flushed and then frowned. Somehow, she kept her voice even and friendly. “I haven’t got any spare copies here, but I’ll let you have one when I get back to London,” she said.

“Don’t bother. I’m sure I can afford a copy, on what Claire’s paying me,” Lindsay retorted sharply, not trusting herself to be anything other than combative. “You really don’t owe me anything, Cordelia.”

“That’s not true, you know that.” Whatever Cordelia might have been going to say was lost as Claire walked back into the room.

The awkward silence that greeted her brought an angry frown to her face. Her eyes glittered behind her glasses, and she moved swiftly to Cordelia’s side. “Are you off, then?” she demanded.