Harry smiled when he set eyes on Charlie. Her smell, her hair all scruffy. Her big toe slightly shorter than the one before it. But the big blue eyes were framed in red, and the dressy purple top on the floor had an obvious puke stain.

‘Have you been ill?’ Harry asked anxiously as he put down the gift bags. He caught his reflection in the window as they hugged, hating the zit cluster on his chin and unpleasantly surprised by her booze-infused sweat.

‘Got wasted,’ Charlie confessed, backing up to the bed. ‘There’s a family of hippos disco dancing inside my skull.’

Harry felt deflated. He’d spent ages planning their day together and Charlie didn’t seem up to it. ‘This place looks OK,’ he said weakly.

‘Grab the seat,’ Charlie said, pointing at the chair under a little desk.

‘I got the underwear you asked for,’ Harry said. ‘And there’s a couple of other bits.’

Charlie reached for the bags as Harry settled into the school-style plastic bucket chair.

‘Does it smell in here?’ Charlie asked, sniffing her wrist.

In prison, she’d always worn a T-shirt, sweat pants and sneakers, so Harry was fascinated by her cleavage as she peered into a bag.

‘Can’t smell much of anything,’ Harry lied. ‘Who’d you go out with?’

Charlie didn’t answer, because after briefly inspecting two packs of H&M underwear she saw the bag with the Dell laptop inside.

‘No way!’ Charlie gasped, as she lifted the box out. She looked excited, but then straightened up and pushed a hand through her hair. ‘I can’t accept that, Harry. It’s way too much.’

‘You need a laptop,’ Harry said firmly. ‘It’s not amazing, but it’ll do for internet and typing essays. And the screen flips behind, so you can stand it up to watch movies, or use it as a tablet.’

‘But …’ Charlie said, certain the gift was over-the-top, yet still wanting it badly.

Harry held up both hands. ‘I’m doing well out of Vegas Local. Ellie’s got local news sites in ten cities now. But he’s always half broke, so I bought twenty-five per cent of Vegas Local with some of the money I made from the bombing footage. I also curate the home page and I get one third of the ad revenue. It’s six times what Matt earns doing Saturdays at Five Guys.’

‘So you write articles and stuff?’

‘Sometimes,’ Harry said, ‘but most of the content is created by local people. Bake sales, school sports, retail coupons, restaurant and show reviews. Anyone can post a notice or an article. I’m more of a curator, making sure there’s always something fresh on the home page. I bump the best stories people have submitted.