Interesting choice of words, Fran thinks. No hint that a murder was a lungful of river water away from being committed.

‘Your wife was stamping on my helmet. Joy’s too.’

Her words deliver the impact she hoped they would. Tom sits back in his chair and he stares at her incredulously. He gulps, his lips repeatedly opening and closing like a goldfish, before he finally finds his voice.

‘I’m sure she didn’t mean to … I mean, obviously everyone was trying to get to the surface. I’m sure she had no idea you were beneath her. I imagine everyone was kicking their legs, weren’t they?’

No. It’s on the tip of Fran’s tongue but, actually, he’s right. And Caroline said the same earlier. She shifts in her chair. Maybe going in with an attack wasn’t the cleverest of moves. If Tom’s on the defensive he’ll be wary for the entirety of their session.

‘Of course they were.’ She forces a smile. ‘I’m sure I’d have stamped on someone’s helmet too if I weren’t so heavy and hadn’t sunk deeper than everyone else. No harm done, no one died.’

‘Quite.’ Tom runs his fingers over the side of his face as he regards her. A comforting gesture, Fran thinks. Unwise of me to use the word died.

‘What do you have in store for us tomorrow?’ she asks, trying to swerve the conversation onto safer ground.

‘A pole jump.’ His lips prick up at the edges. A smile or a smirk? Fran’s not entirely sure.

Oh lord, she thinks. Another opportunity for Kate to try and kill me off.

‘Wonderful,’ she says instead.

Tom continues to gaze at her, his eyes roaming her face.

‘What scares you, Geraldine?’

She pauses to think. ‘Failing,’ she says eventually.

‘In what way?’

‘I’m a teacher, a good one, and if I fail, I fail not just myself but my students, too—’ Fran catches herself. Bugger. She’s done it again, brought up the fact she’s a teacher not a retired whatever it was she was supposed to be. Mentally she slaps herself on the side of the head.

‘Obviously I no longer teach,’ she adds tartly. ‘I’m retired. But I still think of myself as a teacher.’

Tom nods. ‘It’s a big part of your self-image.’

The man obviously hasn’t bothered reading his notes.

‘Yes,’ Fran says. ‘It is. Was.’

‘So what scares you now? Now you no longer have a responsibility to your students?’

‘Being without purpose.’ The words come out of her mouth without a moment’s hesitation. It’s true. The idea of retirement terrifies her, floundering around in the world with nothing to do.

‘And what gives you purpose at the moment?’ Tom asks.