‘Oh? You’ve been shot, too?’

‘Worse.’

‘Yeah, I heard. Quick thinking on Lockland’s part. A few hours’ discomfort has saved you from a good seeing-to. You’ll be all right again by this time tomorrow, which you wouldn’t have been able to say if they’d had their way.’

‘No.’

‘You might want to get her something.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘A gift, perhaps. To show your appreciation. I don’t suppose she’s had many gifts in her life.’

Luke considered this. ‘Good thought. I’ll get my father’s PA on it.’

Ellis sighed, wearily heaved himself to his feet and hobbled painfully to the door. ‘I was wrong about you, Parrish. You’re a bit of a lost cause, aren’t you?’

Luke scowled angrily. ‘For God’s sake – now what have I done?’

‘A teammate put herself at considerable risk for you and you thank her by getting your father’s PA to buy her a gift. What do you think?’

He fumbled with crutch and door handle.

‘Wait. Wait. Please.’

‘What do you want, Parrish?’

‘You once said I could come to you if I needed . . .’

‘Help?’

‘Advice.’

‘All right.’ He came back to the chair and, not without some effort, sat back down. ‘What do you need advice on?’

‘It’s over a year ago now, but I don’t know if you remember Orduroy Tannhauser.’

‘I do, yes.’

‘I was slightly involved.’

‘Yes. I know.’

‘In fact, it’s the reason why . . .’

‘You’re here. Yes, I know.’

‘It wasn’t quite as bad as it appeared in the papers.’

Ellis remained silent.

Luke stared at his hands. The silence went on and on but this time, Ellis made no attempt to leave. The room was slowly darkening because Parrish had not set his room lights to come on automatically.

‘We weren’t best friends, but I knew him quite well.’

‘The inquest said you played cards with him.’

‘I wasn’t the only one, but yes. He wasn’t a bad player. If he’d just stuck to playing for fun . . . Sadly for him, he was just good enough to know he was good, but not good enough to know he wasn’t that good. If you understand that . . .’

‘I do. Continue.’

‘Well, I was with him that night. At the club. He’d been drinking. Not a huge amount but enough to impair his judgement. He was winning and losing equally to begin with but as the night progressed, he was just losing. Unfortunately, what he lacked in judgement, he made up for in enthusiasm. I could see how the evening was going to end.’