‘You’re not going to answer, then?’

‘No comment.’ She was enjoying herself now. Like she was the one in the box seat. ‘How’s that suit you?’

I couldn’t think of any other way to get the upper hand again, and before I knew it I was on my feet and moving to stand – very deliberately – between her and the TV screen. There were one or two jeers and the odd shout of complaint from fans of the three chefs, but I could see straight away that I’d got the reaction I wanted from Lauren.

‘Move,’ she said.

‘Make me,’ I said.

Malaika laid her magazine to one side and stood up. Debbie appeared in the doorway.

Lauren didn’t hesitate. She heaved herself to her feet, and as soon as she’d begun lumbering towards me I ducked quickly past her, grabbed the remote that she’d left behind on the sofa and changed the channel.

‘You’re dead,’ she said.

I made full use of the few seconds I had before Malaika or Lauren could get to me, acknowledging the cheers and the standing ovation from Ilias. It was lovely. I raised both my arms like I’d won something, then lobbed the remote at Lauren before pushing my way through the chairs and settling down nice and quietly next to Shaun.

I waited ten minutes or so, until it had all died down.

Until Debbie had gone back to the nurses’ station and Malaika was sure things were calm again. Until the programme with the chefs had finished and Lauren had made a show of changing the channel, so that we could all enjoy Celebrity Botched-up Bodies.

‘How you doing, mate?’ I asked.

‘OK, I suppose.’ Shaun looked at the floor and began scratching furiously at his head, as though his hair was full of ants. He grunted with the effort. He was never the easiest person to talk to, but he’d gone even further into himself in the days since Kevin had died.

Grief, I presumed, but it could easily have been something else. I was still thinking about what Ilias had told me about a big argument, about Kevin feeling trapped. ‘Come on, I know how you must be feeling. It’s better if you let some of it out though, mate. What Dr Bakshi always says, right?’

Shaun nodded and scratched.

A woman on TV was showing off her horrendous pair of fake tits.

‘The thing is, Shaun, the police have asked me to help them with their investigation. Like, an extra person on the inside kind of thing.’

‘Yeah?’ He gave me a thumbs-up. ‘That’s pretty cool, Al.’

‘Yes, but it means I do need to ask you a few questions, if that’s OK.’

He mumbled something that sounded to me like it was.

‘Was everything good with you and Kevin?’

‘Good?’

‘Before what happened to him, I mean?’