So where the neighbours were concerned she needed to try harder than ever to keep the peace.

For Courtney’s sake if nothing else.

Chapter 18

Dear Ed,

Sorry about the noise earlier, but I can assure you I wasn’t having a party or anything. It was just the media system and, honestly, you won’t believe this, but …

Hannah was about to explain all about Courtney’s snazzy automated system when her phone rang and she saw it was Ward McKenzie’s agent.

Great. What now?

She set down the notepad. Ed’s apology would have to wait.

‘Hello, Bernie. What can I do for you?’ she greeted pleasantly.

‘Well, for starters, you can tell me why my client wound up on five different tabloid sites this evening claiming he was stoned off his ass in Central Park in broad daylight?’

Hannah’s initial reaction was confusion – until she remembered Ward’s fall in the park earlier. Some clout-chasing passerby must have had their phone out.

Shite . . .

‘I was there actually, and that’s not how it happened. We were having a meeting and he tripped over something on the path. That’s all. He wasn’t stoned.’

There was a long pause.

‘Was he drunk?’

OK, that was putting Hannah in a spot. She could tell the agent the truth and not get in trouble – but it would probably get Ward in trouble. Still, since technically Bernie was the agency’s client and she was only working with the athlete on his behalf, it was also her responsibility to tell him what was going on.

Out of loyalty to both, she decided to skirt the issue.

‘I’m sure it was just the knee playing up. We were outside and I wasn’t close enough to smell his breath or anything …’

Her gut told her Bernie didn’t believe her – but she hoped that he at least trusted she was doing the right thing for his client.

‘Look, I’m going to be honest with you, Hannah. Ward … well, let’s just say he’s a challenging … client.’

Understatement of the century . . .

‘He’s got a reputation for being difficult and irresponsible, but I’ll stand right in front of you and tell you that’s not who he is. He’s one of the good guys but he does his best to hide it from people.’

Exactly as she’d thought.

‘Why would he do that though?’ Hannah asked, hoping for a better insight into the ongoing puzzle that was the athlete. ‘Why wouldn’t he want people to know that he’s truly a good guy, as opposed to the asshole reputation he has?’

It was a few moments before Bernie answered.

‘I guess one of the first things you learn in sport is that weakness gets taken advantage of – and he’s always tried to make sure nobody thought he was a pushover. And that crossed over into life.’