Lindsay rang the entryphone buzzer for Claire’s flat. There was no reply. After a couple of minutes, she rang again. She was on the point of giving up and going back to Sophie’s when the loudspeaker crackled incomprehensibly. “It’s Lindsay,” she shouted into it. The door release buzzer sounded, and Lindsay hurriedly pushed the door open. On the third floor landing, the door stood ajar. Cautiously, Lindsay pushed it open and walked in. “Hello?” she called out.

“In here,” came a voice from the bathroom. But it wasn’t the voice Lindsay expected to hear. It was, unmistakably, the voice of the woman who had been her lover for more than three years.

“It’s Lindsay,” she said.

“I know who it is,” Cordelia replied, emerging from the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel that ended too many inches above her knees for Lindsay’s peace of mind. Her black hair was damp and tousled, her shoulders glistening with drops of water. “I was in the bath,” she said unnecessarily.

Lindsay stared at her with a mixture of astonishment and desire. Then anger and self-disgust quickly took their place. How dare Cordelia wind her up like this with Claire only feet away!

As if reading her thoughts, Cordelia let a slight smile appear on her lips. “Claire’s not here,” she said. “She had to go over to Edinburgh at short notice. Something about getting an injunction in the High Court on behalf of one of her clients. She tried to phone you and let you know, but there was no reply. She said, if you came, to apologize on her behalf.”

“I see,” Lindsay croaked through dry lips. Embarrassed, she cleared her throat and said, “I’ve been out working on the case. Interviewing suspects. You know the drill.”

“I know the drill,” Cordelia murmured, moving closer to Lindsay. “Who better? Now you’re here anyway, why don’t you come through and have a coffee?” She put her hand out to touch Lindsay’s arm.

Lindsay flinched from her former lover’s touch as if it had been a blow. “Thanks all the same, but I’d better get on,” she replied. “After all, Claire is paying me. We don’t want to waste her precious time, do we?”

“Oh Lindsay, stop being so prickly. Relax.” She ran a hand through Lindsay’s hair, sending an involuntary shudder through her body. “Come and tell me how you’ve been getting on. I can pass it on to Claire, and that’ll save you having to come back later.”