She grinned back at him. ‘Well, the most important one really is how you are. But I thought that might be affected by the other two.’

He tilted his head back and forth a couple of times, as if allowing that that was fair. ‘Everything’s all right,’ he said, and glanced at her as if checking to see that she believed him. She made it obvious that she didn’t. But he went on, anyway. ‘It was a long day yesterday but the chief did a great job of talking people round.’

‘How did it go at the hospital? With Louise Reakes?’ It wasn’t really the question she wanted an answer to, but it seemed like safer ground than anything personal.

‘It went weirdly,’ he said, giving a slow nod. ‘Her husband turned up and was, to everyone’s surprise, desperately upset about what had happened. And of course I wasn’t intentionally listening, but they were only behind a curtain …’

Hanson grinned. ‘You can admit that you find people’s love lives as interesting as everyone else does, you know. Come and tell me at the bar.’

‘All right.’ Lightman rose and walked with her, speaking quietly as he went. ‘He did a good begging act. All about how much he loved her and how much of an idiot he’d been lying to her for so long. He told her it was all about this drug-running mess he’d got himself into. And he added what an awful person Dina is and how much he hopes he never has to see her again.’

‘Hmm,’ Hanson said, thinking inevitably about her own situation. About Jason. ‘Do we believe him?’

Lightman stopped with his hands on the bar and looked at her for a moment. A look that could have meant anything. ‘It’s hard to say. Tense situations can make people think they care more than they really do.’

‘I suppose so.’ Hanson flagged down the bartender. She ordered them both gin. It seemed like a gin kind of day. And then she asked, ‘What did Louise say?’

‘Somewhere between won over and wary,’ he said. ‘I’d imagine she’ll give him another chance.’

Hanson pulled a face and said nothing for a while. They both watched the bartender pour Tanqueray into a metal measure, and then she said, ‘I don’t know what I’d have done, in her shoes. Whether there was enough trust.’

Ben nodded next to her. She could feel his eyes on her, but it was easier to keep watching the bartender.

‘I suppose what it really comes down to is happiness, isn’t it?’ Ben said. He leaned further over the bar, resting his elbows on it. He was at her level now. ‘My theory is, that’s the only thing that matters. Does having that person in your life make you happier than not having them in it? And if the answer is yes, it’s simple.’