My eyes travel to the salmon-coloured couch, where many a life story has been shared, but its cushions remain perfectly plumped and the magazines on the coffee table are fanned out just as I had left them after my last appointment on Friday.

Nothing looks to have been disturbed and I allow a little frisson of relief to ease its way across my shoulders, loosening the knot that has so quickly tightened there. Maybe I had carelessly left the door unlocked and the breeze had just taken it off the latch, leaving it swaying in the brisk morning air.

I admonish myself, promising that I will pay more attention in future. There might not be anything in here to entice an opportunist looking for an easy grab and sell, but there is still incredibly sensitive information held within the drawers of the cabinets that, in the wrong hands, could have far more damaging consequences.

I take a sip of my coffee and turn the electric heater on, just to take the edge off. It’s forecast to be a warm day, but the overnight coolness has made its presence felt. Not helped by leaving the door open, I say scathingly to myself.

I shiver involuntarily as I open my diary, though I can’t tell whether it’s because of the very real chill in the air or seeing who my first appointment is.

Jacob.

My chest tightens and I ask myself for the hundredth time whether I’ve done the right thing by him. I know I certainly haven’t done right by Leon, but then I wonder if that’s not his own fault.

If he hadn’t been so distracted lately, I would have found it easier to tell him. But the job that we thought would give us more time together has actually resulted in exactly the opposite. Because even when he’s home, he’s on constant call, and the summer concert that he’s spent the last four months organizing is fast approaching, leaving him with even less time, and certainly less patience.

I’ve wanted to tell him about Jacob; tried to several times, but he’s never listened long enough for me to get to the important part. But maybe that’s just me choosing to see it that way, because I know how he’s going to react when I do. He’ll no doubt take me to task for caring too much and going beyond the call of duty. But there’s a reason for that.

I knew as soon as Jacob started coming to see me three months ago that his story was different. Although he, like all of my clients, had reached the point where he felt able to put his pride aside and bravely ask for help, the irony of his situation was that he wasn’t looking to save himself; he wanted to save the woman who had been abusing him for ten years.