‘What are you talking about, Margot?’

‘Hudson is one of my clients. Except he had an Irish accent. It’s a long story, but he’s been lying to me the entire time. I don’t know what his plan is, but there’s a chance he’s involved with Joe.’

‘Right,’ he says, his dark eyebrows lowering. ‘You’re certain it’s him?’

‘Dead certain.’

I open my messages and quickly delete the photo from the wine bar, before passing my phone to Gabe. His eyes run down the screen.

‘What am I looking at? This doesn’t prove anything.’

‘Look, he’s playing a game. I just want to get into her phone to show it’s the same phone number.’

A dubious look passes over his face, followed by a deep sadness in his eyes.

‘Assuming this is not some kind of mix up, how do you explain that to her?’

‘It’s going to break her heart. He’s used her as a pawn to get at me. We need to be tactful, but we need to deprogram her. I’ll talk to her now, but she simply won’t believe it if I tell her what I’ve told you.’ By the look on his face, I’m not convinced he believes me, either.

I climb the steps slowly and tap on July’s door. She doesn’t answer. I push it open. ‘July, honey?’ I say. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Go away, please.’

‘I’m going to hold onto your phone just for tonight, okay. I’ll give it back to you tomorrow.’

‘Why do you hate him?’

‘Look, we’ll talk about it in the morning. And it’s not that I hate him. There’s more to it than that.’

‘I know you’re doing this to punish me. It was so obvious. You can’t stand him.’

‘You’re right, I didn’t give him much of a chance.’

The phone is still vibrating in my pocket, every few minutes. How many messages is he sending? ‘One night,’ I say. ‘You can have it back tomorrow.’

I call Simms and he’s not particularly excited to hear from me at eleven o’clock at night.

‘Mrs Scott,’ he says. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’

‘It wasn’t just Joe,’ I say. ‘Someone else was involved.’

‘All of the evidence suggests it was just one offender. Joe is tied to both fires.’

‘No,’ I say. ‘I think another client was involved.’

He lets out the world’s longest sigh. I can imagine him pinching the bridge of his nose. But I was right about Joe, so I know he’ll give me a chance to explain. ‘Who is it this time?’

‘A man in his twenties. He’s also been dating my daughter and targeting my family.’

‘Name?’

‘Well, Hudson, that’s the name he gave my daughter, but Cormac is the name he gave me.’