“A bit more than a patient, I think.” Lindsay let her comment hang in the air.

“I think you’ve got hold of the wrong end of the stick, Lindsay,” he said sincerely. “I can assure you that my relationship with her was purely professional.”

“Alison and I were very close, you know,” Lindsay said. “She told me everything. I think I was a kind of insurance policy for her, you know? If anything were to happen. Which of course, it did.”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at, but I don’t like your tone one little bit,” he blustered, all traces of the irritating grin gone.

“You must have been very relieved when she was killed. Especially when the police arrested Jackie Mitchell so quickly that they didn’t have to bother investigating Alison’s other relationships,” Lindsay stated coldly, abandoning all efforts at finesse. They’d be wasted on McIntosh, she decided.

“That’s an outrageous and scurrilous suggestion. I barely knew the woman,” he parried weakly, looking round desperately, clearly wishing Sophie would return and rescue him from Lindsay’s attentions.

“Barely being the operative word,” Lindsay remarked drily.

“What the hell has all of this got to do with you?” he said angrily. “You’d better be very careful what you say. There’s such a thing as the law of slander.”

“I just wondered what you were doing on the afternoon Alison was killed,” Lindsay said coolly.

Mcintosh jumped to his feet. “I’m not sitting here listening to this one minute longer!” he exploded.

“I wouldn’t do anything rash if I were you, Ian. You see, Alison kept a diary. Names, times, dates, places. It could be dynamite in the wrong hands. Like the General Medical Council. Or your wife, perhaps. Like I said, I was Alison’s insurance policy. Now why don’t you just sit down and discuss this reasonably?”

The strength seemed to disappear from McIntosh’s legs and he crumpled back into his seat. “You blackmailing bitch,” he spat. “Two of a kind, you and Maxwell. Well, she got what she deserved.”

“What do you mean? Was Alison blackmailing you?” Lindsay blurted out. She was no stranger to Alison’s emotional blackmail, but Mcintosh’s tone indicated more than that.

“I never said that,” he objected. “You’re the one doing the blackmailing.”

“I don’t see you running to the police. Though I must say I’m seriously thinking about doing just that. You might as well tell me, doc. What were you doing on the afternoon she was killed?” Lindsay demanded.

“How the hell should I know?” he hissed through lips drawn tight over his even white teeth.