Olivia sighed heavily. ‘She told us you’ve been refusing to take your medication, so she tried to hide it in your food, yes, but that was for your own good.’

‘Poppycock!’ snapped William. ‘There was nothing wrong with me until they started giving me those damned pills.’ He glared at Ted. ‘It’s the likes of him that have put her up to it, feeble-minded woman that she is.’

‘For goodness’ sake, Dad, you carry on making statements like that and people are going to think you’ve gone barmy.’

Her father smiled gleefully. ‘And that’s part of their plan. If the poison doesn’t work they’ll have me sectioned, but I’m not falling for that one.’

‘You’re an idiot,’ Olivia mumbled under her breath.

‘What?’ said William sharply.

‘Nothing wrong with your hearing,’ Olivia commented.

William folded his arms across his chest. ‘If you’ve just come here to wave that,’ he nodded his head at Ted, ‘under my nose, then you can leave, mission accomplished!’

Olivia also folded her arms across her chest. ‘Not until you’ve had something decent to eat, and taken your tablets,’ she said firmly.

He stared at her without blinking for a few seconds before turning to face the window and relaxing his arms. ‘Fine, but none of that crap that Annie prepares for me. I want you to make it, agreed?’

‘Agreed,’ said Olivia. She turned to Ted. ‘Fancy scouse for your tea?’

Ted grinned. ‘If I must.’

As they left her father, Olivia turned to Ted. ‘Did you see him, Ted? He’s as skinny as a rake!’

Ted nodded. ‘You can see he’s not had a decent meal in a long while.’ He hesitated before voicing the thought uppermost in his mind. ‘I know Annie wouldn’t try and hurt your father, but let’s face it, he’s never going to win any popularity contests. Are you certain someone isn’t trying to bump him off, because he seems pretty sure?’

Olivia gave him a long-suffering look. ‘Don’t you start.’

He shrugged. ‘I bet there’s a few who’d be grateful to see the back of him, and he probably knows it too, that’s why he’s so paranoid.’

‘If I found crushed up tablets in my food, I think I’d be paranoid as well, especially if I’d done wrong to so many people,’ Olivia said reasonably, ‘but we don’t need to worry about that.’

They entered the kitchen where they found Annie washing the dishes. ‘Any joy?’ she asked Olivia.

Olivia nodded. ‘He’s agreed to eat a meal if I make it, but you’re right about the medication – he’s still convinced you’re trying to bump him off, or rather not so much you, as old employees, persuading you to do it for them.’