“Don’t pretend you’re doing this out of civic duty. You’re doing this because you’ve always wanted to solve a murder.”

That was the problem with being married to somebody: after a while they knew you too well and, worse, knew you couldn’t easily dump them for showing it. “Is that—is that really so wrong? Solving murders is good. It’s a good thing.”

“Show me.”

Liza didn’t really know why she hesitated, but hesitate she did. Then she picked her phone up from the bedside table where she had laid it—but forgotten to charge it, she realised—last night, and played back her notes.

“... a mysterious seductress is trying to get me to follow her.” The recording ended there—clearly, she had remembered to turn it off after all, which was probably for the best in a lot of ways.

“Liza.” There was a wavering tone in Hanna’s voice that Liza thought could jump at any second from concern to anger.

“Nothing happened.”

Liza’s reply had come too quickly to be entirely innocent, and now Hanna was looking at her with well-justified suspicion. “What do you mean, nothing happened?”

“I mean with Ruby.”

That hadn’t helped. “Who’s Ruby?”

“The mysterious seductress.”

Pulling on the black polo neck and a pair of dark grey jeans that were her concession to not being in the city, Hanna came to join Liza at the window. “Are you trying to reassure me by denying that you had sex with a woman who ten seconds ago I didn’t know existed?”

“Yes? And I didn’t. I mean, I think I probably could have.” And, if Liza was honest, maybe she had wanted to a little bit. And liked that she could have. And maybe even liked wanting to.

Hanna rolled her eyes. “Oh, good. Nice to know. I suppose I’m lucky really. After all, having a wife lots of people want to fuck is a pretty big status symbol where I work.”

“We just talked. She was flirty, but I think she’s flirty with everyone. It’s her thing. You know, like Caitlyn at university.”

There was a pause, and Hanna seemed momentarily mollified. But only momentarily. “Hold on. You did have sex with Caitlyn at university.”

“Before I met you.”

“No, after you met me. Before we started dating, but we’d definitely met. You probably hadn’t noticed me.”

“I noticed you.”

Hanna scoffed. “Sure you did.”