‘I’ve got plenty to do.’ Sarah pulled away. She knew he was joking. She just was not in the mood to join in. ‘Plus a job.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Big TV star,’ he said with a smile.

Sarah did not respond and Michael seemed to finally take the hint. Falling silent, he began to move the cooked food onto the three plates as he spoke, replacing his Irish accent with a posh English version.

‘Now if Mesdames would kindly take a seat, I will be serving presently.’ He gestured to the table, already set for three. He placed down three plates before speaking again, this time in his broadest Belfast. ‘Who’s ready for an Ulster Fry?’

‘So what brought on the big breakfast?’ Sarah asked as she took her seat, trying to distract herself from rehashing the Wisdom Penfold incident in her mind yet again.

‘I thought you might need it,’ Michael replied. ‘You had a late night.’

‘I’m certainly not complaining. Just a nice surprise. So how did it go yesterday?’

‘You mean in court?’

‘Yeah. You had the phone guy, right? How did that pan out?’

‘As well as we could have hoped. Took some doing because he didn’t like being proved wrong, but by the end he’d accepted that Simon’s phone was not with O’Driscoll’s phone at the time of the murder.’

‘Doesn’t mean Simon wasn’t.’ Sarah was a reporter. Cynicism was her stock in trade, and today she was feeling especially negative. ‘It’s not like he’s attached to his phone.’

‘Try explaining that to Simon,’ Michael replied. ‘And Jenny. She’s as bad as him. Only she doesn’t have the excuse of being a kid. They both seem to think we’ve won the case already.’

‘I thought Jenny was supposed to be the cynic?’

‘So did I.’ Michael sounded disappointed.

Sarah reached out and gripped his forearm.

‘But it went well. That’s what matters, right?’

‘Yeah. You’re right. Of course you’re right.’

‘So what’s today? Is it the big one?’

‘Terry Colliver? No. He’s tomorrow. Today we get Colliver’s pal.’

‘Anything to worry about?’

‘Nah. He’s just a warm-up.’ Michael smiled at the thought. ‘Getting me ready for the main event.’

Sarah squeezed Michael’s forearm again. She was happy to see the sparkle return to his eyes; the anticipation of another day of drama. It lightened her mood. She picked up her fork and took a mouthful of food.

‘So what about you?’ Michael asked. ‘The ferry story kept you out late. There didn’t seem much to report.’

‘But there was plenty we couldn’t report,’ Sarah replied, disappointed that Michael had brought the subject back to here. ‘That’s what took the time.’

‘Like what?’

‘Mainly that the whole thing was connected to Longman’s murder.’

‘What?’ Michael stopped eating. ‘What do you mean? How?’

‘The guy who was arrested. He was the prime suspect.’

‘That was Wisdom Penfold?’

‘Yeah.’ It was Sarah’s turn to be surprised. ‘How did you know that name? Has someone broken the story?’

‘No. I spoke to Levy yesterday. She was asking me about Penfold. Said he was good for Longman and Blunt.’