Gary, at home alone in the ‘penthouse’ flat, found his mind musing on two things. Sarah was the first, and Christopher was the second. Sarah had said she could not see him that night. She did not say she couldn’t see him any night, but she did seem to be asserting her independence; stopping him from thinking that the conquest had been made; showing that she was not necessarily his for the asking. It did not surprise him. He knew she wouldn’t be that much of a pushover, even if the easy way they had climbed into bed on Saturday night might have given that impression. Life, and love, he knew was seldom that straightforward. He would play it cool. As long as he did not have to play it cool for too long. Having been intimate with her once, he was quite keen to be intimate with her again. He also had another feeling. Had some difficulty in identifying it. It was a kind of unease. He tried to put it out of his mind.

Christopher occupied his mind for professional reasons. He could do with talking to a doctor, and Christopher was the only one he knew. There were sources at work that he could talk to, but that would mean putting his cards on the table, and at the moment all he had was a theory, nothing more. There was no hard evidence. He wondered if Christopher would level with him, confidentially. Tell him what he knew about the transplant trade in Britain. Of course, he might not know anything at all. He was a GP, a family doctor. But then he must have had patients in need of transplants.

He just needed to get a better feel for the lie of the land. The sort of feel you could not get by reading a book or a newspaper. But how to broach the subject without making Christopher suspicious?

Maybe he could give the impression that he was taking Tiger up on his ‘secret society’ idea. It was a bit risky, and a bit far fetched, but just supposing the domino club secret society took an interest in finding out more about illegal transplants.

‘Ha!’ He heard himself laughing out loud. It was a fatuous idea. And a dangerous one. Risky professionally, too, for someone in his position. But there was no danger in simply talking about it, was there? Without giving his own position away. He could make sure the subject was dropped before they ever thought about actually doing anything. Anyway, he knew Christopher would be reluctant to get involved in anything medical, and Tiger? Surely this would be too much of a big issue for him, too?