Lindsay walked across the room toward him. But before she reached the table, the hand came to an end and Jimmy hastily got to his feet and met her halfway. “Lindsay Gordon, isn’t it?” he asked with the lop-sided smile she remembered. Thanks God for the instant camaraderie of journalists the world over. Once met, a contact for life, even if they can’t stand the sight of each other! “What brings you to these parts?” Jimmy added. “Hot on the trail of some world exclusive?”

“Something like that,” she said. “Let me get you a drink.”

“Thanks. I’ll have a wee goldie,” he replied, walking back to the bar with her.

“A whisky, please,” Lindsay said to the barmaid, before turning back to Jimmy. Close up, she noticed his straight dark hair was still free from gray hairs, though there were a few more lines round his quick brown eyes. “I didn’t know you lived out this way,” she said.

“I don’t. I’m still living in Partick. I’m working across the road now. Sports editor, for my sins,” he replied with a rueful grimace.

“Oh, I hadn’t heard. I knew you’d left the Clarion, but I didn’t realize you were in Motherwell,” Lindsay lied, hoping she sounded convincing. The last thing she wanted was for him to suspect their encounter wasn’t entirely fortuitous.

“It’s not the kind of thing you shout about, is it? What about you? Still working for the Clarion?”

Lindsay shook her head ruefully. “No. They kind of fell out with me. And you know what they’re like. Long memories. They don’t give you a second chance.”

“Don’t I know it,” Jimmy said bitterly.

“I heard you had a bit of bother too. Alison Maxwell, wasn’t it?”

“Aye, Alison bloody Maxwell. Funny, isn’t it? You’d read her work and think, what a bloody good journalist. And then you’d get to know her and find out she was the biggest bitch in town,” he said with a bitter bark of laughter.

“Yeah,” Lindsay agreed. “Mind you, if they kicked out all the journalists whose private lives don’t match up to their talent, there would be a lot of empty newsrooms.”

“I know, but Alison Maxwell was in a class of her own. If anyone deserved what they got, she did.” Jimmy added some water to his whisky and took a sip. “I was surprised at Jackie Mitchell, though. Never thought she had it in her.”

“If you push people hard enough, they’ll do anything to get out,” Lindsay said. “And when it came to pushing, Alison was the expert. As I found out the hard way.”

“You?” Jimmy exclaimed, his face a caricature of astonishment.