Behind me, George retrieved a couple of used coffee cups from the bookcase and left without another word. I kept my eyes on Sephy. She made no attempt to hide what she really thought of me. It was almost refreshing. Silence stretched out between us, taut and tense. I raised an eyebrow.

‘So, as I said, Sephy, I have an announcement to make and I wanted you to hear it.’

‘How about a sneak preview so I can go home?’

‘And spoil the surprise?’ I asked with a smile.

‘What if I were to tell you to stuff your dinner party where the sun don’t shine and defy you by walking out?’

‘I wouldn’t recommend that.’

Sephy’s dark honey eyes threw continuous daggers my way. ‘You deliberately placed me between Owen Dowd and Patrix so that my evening could be as uncomfortable as possible. You love your little games, don’t you?’

‘I’m sure you’ve found plenty to talk about,’ I said, suppressing a smile.

‘Yeah, right. You cast me in the role of perineum for the evening and you expect me to be all chatty?’

A moment, then I burst out laughing. ‘Ah, Sephy, it’s such a pleasure doing business with you. You have an original outlook. Tell me, which one of them is the arsehole and which the scrotum?’

‘I was thinking female not male genitalia,’ said Sephy sourly.

My laugh deepened. ‘You are too salty. I like it.’

Slowly Sephy shook her head. ‘Dan, five years ago, I was cooking something or other in my kitchen, I can’t even remember what, and this annoying little fly kept buzzing round me. Tiny thing it was, but so aggravating. I could’ve ignored it, but I didn’t want it landing in my food and contaminating what I was cooking. So I took off one of my slippers and I went after it. I chased that fly round and round my kitchen until I finally cornered it and I thought, Got you now. So I whacked at it with my slipper, just as hard as I could. Only I missed the fly and hit the wall with such force that my fingers bent right back and I dislocated one of them. My right index finger.’ Sephy held up her hand, then showed it in profile. ‘See where it’s still crooked? It didn’t set straight. Sometimes, when it’s really cold, the joint still hurts. And all because I let a tiny fly distract me from what I should’ve been doing.’

‘And I’m the fly, no doubt,’ I said with scorn.

‘No, you’re the slipper,’ said Sephy.

My frown was instantaneous. What?

Another knock at the door. Jesus wept! George entered without waiting for a response. He was carrying a silver tray on which was a fresh coffee pot, a mug and a cream jug. He placed them on my desk and left.