‘Have you told Christopher yet?’ asked Tiger.

‘No. I thought I’d nip over there after I’d called on you.’

‘He’ll be a bit shocked. I think Monty Loveday was a friend of his.’

‘I have a feeling that he won’t be surprised about Randall Cummings.’

Tiger looked up. ‘You think he knew?’

‘I think he had an inkling. Don’t know why I say that. Just a feeling.’

‘Do you think they’ll give Christopher his job back?’

‘Can’t see how they could refuse. Not after all this. He is a great doctor and Randall Cummings isn’t nearly as popular.’

‘How did you come to hear about it, then?’ asked Tiger. ‘I didn’t see it in any of the papers?’

‘Oh…er…I heard it from Sarah. She has a friend who was involved in nabbing them.’

‘God, I bet that was a bit of a case. Think how much undercover work they must have had to do. Must have taken them ages.’

‘Yes, it did…er…apparently…’

The sparkle had come back into Tiger’s eye. ‘So this Sarah…’

‘Mmm?’

‘Is she involved in police work then? Investigations?’

Gary feigned ignorance. ‘Oh, I don’t think so. She’s a civil servant like me. Leads a very sedentary life. You know me, anything to avoid expending effort. Unless it’s horizontal.’

‘Yes.’ Tiger looked at him sideways. ‘You know, the thing I’ve always thought about you, Gary?’

Gary, was still looking out of the window. ‘Mmm? What?’

‘I mean, I’m probably way off the mark, and giving you credit for far more than I should, but I’ve always thought you were a bit of a dark horse.’

Gary turned to face him ‘Me? Nah. Straight as a die. What you see is what you get.’

‘Oh. Really?’

‘Yup.’ Gary spread his arms wide. ‘An open book, that’s me.’

Tiger looked unconvinced. ‘And Sarah. She’s still on the scene then?’

‘At the moment.’

Tiger grinned. ‘At the moment! Ha! If you’re an open book, Gary Flynn, then there’s one thing that anybody can see.’

‘What’s that?’

‘That you’ve never been so besotted with a girl in all your life.’

‘You reckon?’

‘I reckon.’

‘Well,’ said Gary, ‘you might just have something there. Perhaps leopards can change their spots.’ He knelt down by Tiger’s chair and looked up at him. ‘And what about Tigers? Can they change their stripes?’

Tiger looked serious. ‘I might have to. Not sure if they’ll let me fly again. Bloody determined to try though. Nothing else like it.’

‘Haven’t you had enough excitement for a bit?’

A look of something that even Gary could not quite identify flickered across Tiger’s face. ‘For the time being, yes. I thought it would be a bit of fun. But in the end it turned out that it wasn’t worth the candle.’