‘He does the complementary therapies?’ The question was innocent enough, but Vera wasn’t deceived. Lisa knew him all right. She was suddenly more alert.

‘Works here once a week. Got one of the young waitresses pregnant. That’s the one.’ Vera looked directly at Lisa. ‘Did he ever try it on with you?’

‘No! Nothing like that. He wouldn’t.’ Lisa seemed horrified by the idea.

‘Why wouldn’t he? He has a history of it.’

‘I was his client,’ Lisa said. ‘Our relationship was professional.’ A wash of colour was spreading from her neck into her cheeks.

Maybe it was professional, but you’d have liked it to be more than that. What is it about Michael Morgan and women who should know better?

‘Tell me about it.’

‘It was hard, working here. I mean, I’m good at the job and I love it, but I’ve never really fitted in.’

‘You were bullied,’ Vera said.

‘That sounds a bit harsh, but it’s what it felt like. I didn’t go into town clubbing with the other girls and I’m not interested in the same stuff. They could be dead cruel. It got that I dreaded coming into work, started having these panic attacks. My GP couldn’t help, so I tried Michael.’

‘And he could help?’

Lisa nodded. ‘I don’t know how it works, but it made me feel really calm. Like I really stopped caring about what the rest of them thought about me. I looked forward to coming into work again.’

‘Did you ever see him away from here?’ Vera asked.

‘No.’ Lisa was playing with one of the soft rubber floats, twisting it in her hands. ‘Look, none of the other staff know I consulted him. There’s always been a lot of gossip, first when the little boy was killed and then when he took up with Freya. It’s as if he’s some sort of freak. If they knew I’d seen Michael, they’d love that. It’d just give them more ammunition to have a go at me. But he was kind to me, gentle, and I’m grateful to him.’

‘Did you ever catch him in the places where the public has no access?’

Lisa frowned. ‘No. Only in the office he used as a consulting room.’

‘But he would have had one of those magic fobs that would let him back here?’

‘I suppose so.’ Lisa looked at her watch. ‘Look, I’ll have to go. My shift started ten minutes ago.’

‘Did any of the other staff consult him?’ Lisa was already halfway through the door, but turned back to answer the question.

‘I wouldn’t know,’ she said, ‘would I? They wouldn’t admit to it any more than me.’