Me and my family’s woes were all very well, but Minerva had a magazine to save. She was after an exclusive, juicy story – and that made her extremely dangerous.

‘I’m surprised at you, Minnie, listening to gossip. Is that what Essentials is now? A gossip rag?’

Minerva bristled. ‘No, it is not. But an exclusive would help the magazine out enormously.’

‘And it wouldn’t do you any harm either, right? Well, I’m afraid you’ve been misinformed. You’re barking up the wrong tree.’

‘Is that true? It feels to me like you’re protesting rather too much.’ Minerva’s eyes narrowed.

‘Suit yourself.’ I shrugged. ‘You want to waste your time chasing an illusion, go for it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment. I was just heading out the door when you arrived.’

‘Where are you going?’

Oh hell, no!

‘Minnie, the days of reporting my movements to you were over when we were teenagers. No … wait … there never were any such days. I’ll follow you out.’ I indicated the door.

Minerva frowned, but did as requested and headed for the door. ‘There’s no need to be quite so salty. And you do know how much I loathe being called Minnie, right?’

‘You do know how much I hate you minding my business, right?’ I shot back.

Reluctantly, Minerva smiled. ‘You and me, we always could start a forest fire with the sparks we strike off each other.’

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. ‘Maybe one day we’ll manage to hold a conversation without snapping at each other.’

My sister and I looked at each other. ‘Nah!’ we said in unison. And we laughed.

Once out of Specimens, we had our obligatory goodbye hug and I watched and waited as Minerva walked back to her car, which must’ve been parked in the next street. Only when she turned the corner did I head for my own car. I wouldn’t have put it past my sister to try to follow me. Sad but true. Even when I’d started the engine and was on my way to my destination, I still checked my rear-view mirror more than usual just to ensure Minerva wasn’t trying to pull one of her stunts. After driving along a couple of random streets, when I saw no sign of her, I headed for my next appointment.

Callie would be appalled if she knew what I was doing, but sitting on my hands, waiting to hear from her or Tobey, wasn’t ever going to happen. What kind of woman, what kind of mother, what kind of human being would I be if I did nothing? I had done that once before and the man I loved more than life itself had died.

That was never, ever going to happen again.