Frankie found herself gritting her teeth. What was it about this woman and her ability to put words in your mouth, words that you did not want spoken for you? ‘It’s not—’ she began defensively, but Julia was speaking over her.

‘I’m only messing with you. Yeah, sure we could meet. You’re good cop, I take it, going to offer me a sweetener, while he grunts and growls, as bad cop?’

Again Frankie cringed at how tacky this sounded – and how near the knuckle it actually was, too. She assumed Julia was teasing her, but the subject of Fergus felt too precarious to be teased over. ‘Look, I only want to talk—’ she began, before being interrupted a second time.

‘I know. I’m kidding. Well, I think I am, anyway. So, where are we meeting? I’d invite you to mine, but I’m staying with a mate in Highbury and it’s a bit of a shit-hole, to say the least. But we can hook up somewhere in Upper Street, maybe? If you’re paying, that is. You practically need to sell a limb to buy yourself a latte in some of those places.’

Was she reading too much into this or did Julia sound kind of manic? Frankie thought in alarm, already wondering what she was letting herself in for. ‘Okay,’ she said, trying to keep her cool. ‘How about Barney’s at midday?’

‘I will see you there,’ said Julia.

With a click, the line went dead and Frankie stuffed the phone back in her pocket, a queasy sensation curdling her stomach, along with the fervent hope that she hadn’t just set herself up for an almighty own-goal.

‘I’ve got to go and see Constance,’ she lied to Craig, on re-entering the flat. ‘I’m going to head out soon, if that’s okay. I’ll just put on a bit of slap and change this top.’ Her heart was thumping as he nodded absent-mindedly, her fingers clumsy as she sorted through the hangers in the wardrobe to find something nice to wear. Lying to Craig, meeting Julia behind his back – she was playing with fire, she knew it. But sometimes you just had to take a risk, right?

That’s my girl, said Kathy in her head, as Frankie slipped a short-sleeved apple-print blouse over her head and spritzed perfume on her neck and wrists. She was doing this for Fergus, she told herself firmly, walking through the sunny streets to the Tube station a short while later. Which was why she was determined not to screw it up.