He nuzzled the back of her neck. ‘You sure I can’t persuade you?’

‘Sorry.’

‘Only, I was hoping . . .’

‘Not tonight.’ She rolled over to face him. ‘Too much on my mind.’

Tim watched her for a moment, wrestling with something. ‘I’ve got something on my mind too.’

She felt guilty. She hardly ever paid any attention to what might be troubling him. Perhaps something was going on at work. ‘What’s up?’

‘Same as we’ve discussed before.’

She frowned. ‘Sorry . . . you’re going to have to remind me.’

He was silent for a moment. ‘A baby, Kate. I would like to talk about having a baby. With you.’

Her heart sank. ‘It’s just not the right time – not with everything else that’s going on.’

‘But . . .’

‘What?’

‘Well, look where we are. What we’ve been celebrating tonight. The fact is, in another year or so it may not even be an option. It could be difficult now, even . . .’

Kate tensed.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘It’s just really important to me.’

‘I said I needed some time.’

‘I know. But it’s months since I first brought this up. And realistically – is your case anywhere near over?’

She didn’t answer; they both knew it wasn’t.

Tim took a deep breath. ‘I guess I’ve got to accept that what you’re doing is bigger than me or you.’

She opened her mouth to deny it, but no words came. Having a baby right now felt like completely the wrong thing to do.

He held up a conciliatory hand. ‘It’s OK. I’m not saying that to throw my toys out of the pram. It’s just the way it is. So, what do you think you’re going to do?’ he asked.

‘About what?’

‘Greg.’

Kate shrugged. ‘Not sure yet. I’m seeing him in a few days.’

‘You’re not still going . . .’

‘We’re interviewing candidates for the bursary. It would look strange if I suddenly cancelled.’

‘But—’

‘I honestly don’t know what to do for the best. You see, there’s something else we’ve overlooked here. Something important.’

He waited for her to continue.

‘If there’s an ounce of truth to what we’ve been hypothesizing tonight, that Greg’s involved somehow, then I’ve been working with the man who had my daughter killed.’

Tim placed his hand on hers. ‘I know, but we don’t know for sure. It might just be a coincidence, like you said earlier.’

‘There’s something else.’

He looked at her, puzzled. ‘What?’

‘If it’s true . . . then I didn’t persuade him to improve his fleet of trucks at all. I persuaded sweet bugger all. He was pretending . . . playing me the whole time.’

Tim sat up. ‘Now, I don’t think—’

‘Which makes me just the same dumb arse girl as always.’ Kate took a deep breath. And now . . . well, she was just kidding herself, right? Deluding herself she was some sort of amateur lawyer, when actually she was just a school dropout, who would amount to nothing out of the ordinary.