The glass was empty and with a sigh he let it fall again.

Ellis said, ‘This was over a year ago now. What’s the problem?’

‘Orduroy had a mother. And, although I didn’t know it at the time – a sister, as well. Someone had told me they weren’t well off and I thought perhaps I could make things right . . . or something. I don’t know.’

He stopped talking, staring at his past.

Ellis said helpfully, ‘And now your income has dropped so dramatically you can’t afford it and you feel bad about cutting them off.’

‘Oh no. That’s not it at all. Well, no, you’re right, I can’t afford it, but I can hardly stop now, can I? My personal circumstances are not important.’

Considerably surprised by this response, Ellis said, ‘So what’s the problem?’

‘Well, these days I need to study my bank statements a little more carefully than in the good old days, and I’ve just discovered all the payments I’ve been making have been returned. Obviously, they’d worked out who was sending them.’

He heaved a sigh. ‘So I’ve been thinking . . . I have the idea . . . that I should talk to them . . . but what if I make things worse . . . and then I think, what if they want to know, you know, what actually happened . . . and then I think, am I just being selfish and trying to offload my own guilt, because it was all my fault . . . and I’ve been going around in circles for some time now, trying to work out what to do for the best.’

Ellis was conscious of a feeling of astonishment and then, unexpectedly, deep satisfaction.

‘Well,’ he said slowly, ‘why don’t you let Mrs Tannhauser decide? And it might be best if you don’t approach her directly. Is there an intermediary you could use to . . . test the water? You never know, she might welcome the chance to talk about Orduroy. And you can explain about the money and if she truly doesn’t want it . . . well . . .’

He spread his hands and waited.

Luke stared at his feet for a while. ‘Yes, there is someone.’ With a gleam of humour, he said, ‘I’m afraid we’re back to Ms Steel again. Although in this instance, I think she might be the very person. She hates me, so I can rely on her to present me in the worst possible light – so if Mrs Tannhauser does agree to see me, it’ll be because she really wants to.’

‘Well, there you go, then. A plan.’ Ellis paused. ‘If she does agree – for whatever reason – it won’t be an easy interview.’

‘No, it won’t. But it shouldn’t be, really, should it? Thank you.’

Ellis heaved himself painfully to his feet again. ‘Let me know how it goes.’

Parrish nodded. ‘Got to say, you look terrible. Do you need a hand getting back to MedCen?’