‘Well thank you, Mr Chief Executive.’

‘Mrs Chief Executive,’ said Sarah from behind her coffee cup.

Damn it. ‘Wow. They have a professional doing the job. Good for them.’

Sarah placed her cup in its saucer. ‘Nice recovery.’

He grinned. ‘Thank you very much.’

‘I missed you.’

He hadn’t expected that and he knew he’d failed to hide his surprise. Sarah dropped her eyes and he wasn’t sure what to say next. In a simple world, he’d say, I missed you too, and in an ideal world he’d say, I’m so glad you said that because I want to spend every minute of every day with you. But his world was neither simple nor ideal, so he said, ‘I’m afraid that’s not going to get any better.’

She shuffled in her chair. Her leg was no longer touching his. ‘I see.’

He took one of her hands in both of his. ‘No, you don’t. It’s complicated. This case is twisted and bad and I can’t have you anywhere near it.’

Sarah frowned at their hands.

‘The research Augusta and I do is for the justice system, or for the victims of crimes. Sometimes it involves meeting unsavoury characters. And in this case, with Jane, I don’t even know who we’re up against. But what I do know is that they’re playing games with Augusta’s life, and with mine too.’

‘Why?’

‘Because they don’t want us interfering in whatever the hell they’re up to. But we can’t stop. We have to get Jane back, so things might get hairy.’

Sarah squeezed his hand. ‘Are you in danger?’

‘I’m always in danger, babe. I live on the edge.’

She kicked him underneath the table. ‘That’s neither impressive nor funny.’

‘Sorry.’

‘And it was downright cheesy.’

He laughed. It felt good to break the tension.

‘How are they messing with your lives?’

Jameson recalled Bloom’s cautionary words as he left to catch the train: Be careful what you share. He knew she was right. Telling Sarah the whole story would make her vulnerable. But he wanted to be as honest as possible. ‘It turns out Jane and her mother may have been targeted deliberately because they know me, and because I know Dr Bloom.’

‘Dr Bloom?’

‘Augusta. She’s a psychologist.’

‘Your partner?’ Jameson nodded. ‘Why are they targeting her?’

‘We’re not sure, but she has a history of working with these kinds of people, so maybe she pissed someone off.’

Sarah fiddled with her teaspoon. ‘What kind of people?’

Jameson selected his words carefully. ‘Well, she’s a forensic psychologist, so she’s dealt with a range of challenging characters.’

‘Bad people?’

‘Some of them.’

‘And the ones after her now – do you think they’re bad people?’

Jameson shrugged.

‘Are they dangerous? Have they done anything to harm her … or you?’