He thanked Molloy for his concern but made it clear that this was a family matter and not one with which the guards needed to concern themselves. They had enough to do, he said, he didn’t want to take up their time unnecessarily. I said nothing. The fact that Jude seemed to accept without question that his daughter’s overdose was self-inflicted meant that he didn’t yet know what had been going on between Lissa and her husband.

“I’d like to speak to her myself, if that’s okay. Can I see her?” Molloy asked.

“She’s asleep, I think,” Jude said. “They have her on a drip.”

“Okay, I’ll come back later. I won’t stay long but I do need to speak to her.”

Jude nodded. “I understand.”

He agreed to call Molloy when Lissa was up to talking, then headed into the hospital room himself while Sue sat down beside Phyllis with the toddler on her knee. Yet again, Sue had said nothing throughout, her attention concentrated on her little nephew.

After Molloy left, I stood there for a few seconds watching the toddler play with a toy car while trying to corral my thoughts. Then I realized I had no choice. I had to tell Molloy about Lissa’s husband. She’d told me this morning that her life was in danger and this evening she’d nearly died. That was a coincidence I couldn’t ignore. If I’d told someone earlier, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

I was about to find myself breaking solicitor–client confidentiality again, twice in twenty-four hours, something I always tried to avoid. But Lissa was in a small community hospital struggling on a skeleton staff. Barbour-jacket man or not, if her husband wanted to do her harm, he could easily get into this hospital to finish the job and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that happened.

I followed Molloy out through the double doors and called after him. He turned and raised his eyebrows and, in a low voice, I told him as quickly as I could about Lissa’s visit to the office.

“Right,” Molloy said, his hand on his chin. “And her father doesn’t know? He seemed very keen to get rid of me.”

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know. She said she hadn’t told him because she was afraid of what he might do.”

He nodded. “The doc tells me it’s impossible to tell if the drugs were self-administered or not. GHB comes in a spray and you add it to a drink. It leaves the system within hours so it’s impossible to test for, but it seems likely that’s what it is.”

So, he’d spoken to Harry before he’d come in, I thought. He must have met him outside the door. I noticed he hadn’t chosen to mention that to Jude.