After a few moments Matt said, ‘Those things I said. I had no right to. I had no idea. I mean…’

‘Well, there we are,’ Christopher said with finality.

‘Dad?’

‘Yes?’

‘I’m sorry I was a complete bastard.’

Christopher half laughed. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Not a complete one. Just a bit of one. And you have got a few things on your mind.’

‘I guess.’

Christopher perched on the arm of a chair. ‘Funny, isn’t it?’

‘What?’ asked Matt. ‘How we all seem to just miss sometimes? I try to understand you and don’t quite get there, and you try to understand me…’

‘And don’t get there either. Yes.’

‘At least we try, Dad. At least we try.’

Christopher nodded, then drained his glass and got up.

‘Another one?’ Matt asked.

‘No. I can drive on one, but not on two. And I have to go out for a while.’ He turned in the doorway. ‘We’ll get there, Matt. In the end. Both of us.’

Chapter 26

A woman’s friendship ever ends in love.

Dione, John Gay, 1685–1732

‘Bloody hell!’ At that particular moment Gary could think of nothing else to say.

‘How come you didn’t know what Randall Cummings looks like?’ asked Sarah. ‘He’s from your neck of the woods.’

‘Because I have my own doctor–Christopher–and although I knew of Randall Cummings I’d never met him. Tiger knows him because he used to be Erica’s GP, until he gave Christopher the push, then she took her business elsewhere.’

‘What about the other one?’ she asked. ‘Montagu Loveday.’

‘Not met him either. Apparently he’s our local coroner.’

‘And they were in it together?’ Sarah was scrutinizing the two men through the glass.

‘It looks like it, though neither of them is giving anything away.’

‘But they look so ordinary.’

‘Always the way, isn’t it? Never be fooled by appearances,’ he muttered meaningfully.

The two of them listened to the one-sided conversation being conducted in the room next door. The agents were getting little satisfaction. Cummings had taken off his jacket now. It was on the back of his chair. He was mopping his brow with a white handkerchief. Monty Loveday on the other hand was coolness personified. He sat upright and looked straight ahead.

‘We have the envelope, gentlemen. We know you were dealing with Mr Tan, and we know what Mr Tan deals in. It is illegal in this country to profit from the sale of body parts.’

Cummings cleared his throat. ‘We don’t know anything about that. We were just being paid for some medical advice we had offered him. Consultancy work. Nothing more. That’s what consultants do–provide advice.’