They all sat back in their chairs for a moment, Lindsay trying to hide her pity for her friend and her disappointment that nothing more substantial had emerged from the conversation. She leaned forward again and said reassuringly, “I’ve managed to come up with the goods on investigative stories before with less to go on than we’ve got here. And with Cordelia to keep me right, I’m sure we’re going to crack this one too. I’m not giving up on you, Paddy, I owe you one.”

For a moment, Paddy’s face looked animated and she almost smiled, but at that moment the prison officer approached Paddy and said that their time was up. Immediately, Paddy’s eyes became bleak again and she got to her feet. “Come again when you can,” she implored before vanishing through the door once more.

When they emerged into the open space of the car park, Lindsay gulped air in as though that would somehow cleanse her. She leaned against the car, shoulders slumped and face full of dismay. Cordelia leaned against the wall, fighting back the tears. “It’s so bloody unfair,” she spat.

“I know,” Lindsay sighed. “I feel completely inadequate. How the hell can we sort this mess out? I just don’t know where to start.”

“At least she’s given us a couple of leads. We’ve got reasonable excuses for talking to Caroline and Jessica now.”

Lindsay nodded wearily. “I suppose so. I kept on thinking there was something important I should have asked Paddy, but I don’t know what it was. There’s something which has been nagging at the back of my mind since Sunday and it won’t surface for long enough to grasp it. But I know it’s somehow significant, whatever it is.”

Cordelia shrugged herself away from the wall. “Come on, we’d better get on the road to London. Maybe Andrew Christie will hold the key that will unlock all of this.”

“I doubt it,” Lindsay muttered. “But let’s go anyway.”

12