‘No, he was bloody useless. Kept talking about my “aura”. And I kept telling him I haven’t got a bloody aura!’ He looked at Jude pityingly. ‘Do you really think that you can heal me?’

‘It depends rather on what you think within yourself needs healing.’

‘Good answer … to which my answer would be that I don’t think there’s much that needs healing. I think I’m all right as I am.’

‘You mean you’re happy?’

‘Now, come on. I didn’t say that. No, a lot of the time I’m as miserable as sin, but I don’t think that’s something that can be healed.’

‘Are you saying you get depressed?’

‘I don’t know. A lot of the shrinks have asked me that. Then I ask them what they mean by “being depressed” and they describe it to me … and usually I come to the conclusion that … no, I’m not depressed. But I am pissed off.’

‘And what pisses you off?’

‘Everything, pretty much. My situation here. The fact that I’m living on the Shorelands Estate in Fethering with bloody Mrs Kendrick.’

‘Can’t you move away?’

He shook his head wryly and made that finger-rubbing gesture which is recognized throughout the world to refer to money. ‘Can’t afford to, can I?’

Jude was increasingly of the view that she was the wrong person to have been called in to sort out Tom Kendrick, but she decided to get a bit more information before she left. ‘Your mother said you’d started lots of courses and jobs and none of them had worked out. Why?’

‘Because none of them interested me.’

‘A lot of people start out doing jobs that don’t interest them.’

‘Yes, but they have to, don’t they? I don’t.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Mrs Kendrick gives me an allowance. So long as that continues, why should I bother?’

‘Didn’t your father think you should make more of yourself?’

‘Maybe. At first. But his idea of me making “more of myself” was doing exactly what he’d done. He’d been Head Boy at prep school, Captain of Cricket at public school, studied Law at university, qualified as a solicitor and settled for a comfortable life of conveyancing, divorce, probate and golf. When it became clear that I wasn’t going to go down any of those paths, Mr Kendrick rather lost interest in me.’

‘So …’ asked Jude, ‘what do you do all day?’

‘Sometimes I go out. Mrs Kendrick has been kind enough to supply me with a car.’

‘The Triumph Tr6 outside?’

‘That’s the one. But I spend most of my time in my bedroom. Got Netflix, Sky Sports, computer games. My needs are simple.’

‘What about seeing other people?’

‘In my experience, “other people” are very rarely what they’re cracked up to be. There are some I get together with in Brighton, but not that often.’

‘Girlfriends?’