Lindsay held on to her hand, refusing to allow her to escape, “I hardly know you. The fact that I turn to jelly every time you come near me doesn’t cancel out what I know with my head. You were there. You had a motive. I don’t believe you did it. But I’m still clear-headed enough about you to know that at least half the reason I don’t believe it is because I don’t want to believe it.”

“You really know how to kill desire stone dead, don’t you?”

Lindsay shook her head. “I don’t want to do that. I’ve sat in that pub for the last two hours wanting you so badly it hurt,” she said passionately. “The only reason I wanted to get out of the flat was that I didn’t think I could sit all evening in a room alone with you and not make a bloody big fool of myself. Of course I want to go to bed with you. But it’s going to mean something to me, you’d better be aware of that. And if it’s going to mean something to me, then I’m not going to bed with you under false pretences. So let’s spell it out. Yes, I still think you might have done it. With my head, I think that. But all my instincts tell me you’re innocent.”

They stood bristling at each other. Cordelia shook her head, wonderingly. “My God, you’re honest. You don’t spare anyone, do you?”

“If you start with lies, nothing you build can be honest. It’s true in every area of your life. And I tell you now, honesty’s the point at which my previous relationships have come unstuck. So if we’re going to be lovers, let’s do it with our cards on the table.”

“All right, honest journalist.” Cordelia moved back toward Lindsay. “Cards on the table. I didn’t kill Lorna. I don’t go to bed with people just for kicks. It’ll mean something to me too. I’m not committed to anyone else. I have all my own teeth. I love Italy in the spring. I hate tinned soup, and I want you right now.” She kissed her suddenly and hard. Lindsay tasted cigarettes and whisky and smelled shampoo. And was lost.

Glued to each other, they performed a complicated sideways shuffle into Lindsay’s bedroom. Because it was the first time, the clumsy fumbling to undress each other lost its ludicrous edge in mutual desire.