Increasingly, I’d been thinking about selling Specimens and having done with it. It wasn’t like I hadn’t received offers over the years – mostly from legitimate sources; some from the likes of Dan Jeavons. I could only hope and pray that his pernicious soul was rotting in hell where it belonged.

Daniel Jeavons …

His name sat on my tongue like needles and pins. I didn’t send him off, but that didn’t mean I was sorry about it. He was the deceased author of the play my family and I now found ourselves cast in. His reach extended even from the grave.

But I was going to put a stop to that.

The moment I walked into the restaurant kitchen, all eyes were on me, albeit momentarily before the staff got back to work. On the kitchen radio, there was a news story about Tobey Durbridge, but one of the kitchen staff turned the volume down as I entered the room. I liked to see the kitchen busy, everyone moving with a point and purpose. With Saul, my head chef, in charge, there was no way any of the staff would get away with slacking.

‘Mrs Ealing, is there a problem?’ he asked. He was a stocky guy, but it was all muscle, a hangover from the days when he used to be a professional wrestler before a broken back forced him to look for another line of work. Saul was the blondest Nought I’d ever met. His eyebrows, even his eyelashes, were blond.

‘Mrs Ealing?’ he prompted. His frown had now tipped over into a full-on impatient scowl. He wanted me out of his kitchen so that he and his staff could get back to working without scrutiny. I was holding him up. Tough!

Amari raised a quizzical eyebrow too. She was a Cross with thin locs dyed copper, beautiful full lips and an eyebrow piercing above shrewd, dark, honey-brown eyes. ‘Is everything all right, Sephy?’

I forced a smile. ‘Of course. I’d just like a word with Devon.’ I turned to the tall, bald Nought guy behind one of the counters, noting his surly expression, which was a permanent fixture. ‘Dev, may I see you in my office, please?’

‘But Saul’s going through our roles for the evening. I’ll miss it if—’

‘You’ll catch up. Now, Devon – if you don’t mind.’

Now, Devon, even if you do mind. I made my way through the staff-only swing doors and walked towards my office at the end of the corridor. I didn’t need to glance behind to know that Devon was walking behind me, truculence in every step. He was fine taking orders from Saul. From Amari and me? Not so much. That was his problem – I didn’t intend to make it mine. I held the door to my office open, waiting for him to walk past me, which he did, slightly closer than was strictly necessary.