‘Not entirely. I just had an interesting call from one of my ex-employers.’ She paused, letting the words hang in the air.

‘Right,’ he said slowly.

‘Apparently, someone from Conmere has been making enquiries about me,’ she said, not hiding the annoyance in her voice. ‘I am grateful for the job this week in Housekeeping, but I don’t remember signing any forms or agreeing to anyone contacting my former employer.’

‘Hang on a minute,’ interrupted Harry. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. No one, certainly not me, has called your former employer. What makes you say that?’

She felt her earlier bubble of confidence deflate. ‘My old newspaper in Carlisle rang to tell me someone was checking up on my employment history …’

‘And you automatically assumed it was me?’

‘It wasn’t?’

‘No. It wasn’t.’ Harry sounded very put out. ‘The job is just a one-off – I was doing you a favour as much as you were doing me one. I had no intention of getting in touch with your current or former employers. Do you really think I’d do something like that without asking you first?’

‘What about someone from the office?’

He let out a sigh of frustration. ‘I haven’t told anyone where you worked; it hasn’t come up in conversation … it hasn’t been necessary. I’m telling you, Steph, it wasn’t me.’

‘Oh, God. I’m sorry,’ she said. He sounded genuine and her gut instinct was telling her the same. ‘I just assumed.’

‘Yeah, well, you know what they say about that.’

‘Sorry.’

‘Would it have been such a bad thing to get in touch with your former employer? Would they have told me what a hothead you are? How you jump to conclusions? How you’re impulsive?’ he said and then, dropping his voice, ‘That you would be a distraction?’

‘Me? A distraction?’ She laughed out loud. She was relieved they appeared to be back on good terms.

‘I honestly don’t know anything about it,’ he said. ‘I can ask though. Just to put your mind at rest. Maybe it was someone wanting to hire you. Maybe someone had something they wanted you to review or investigate – I don’t know.’

It was a good job Harry couldn’t see her face; she felt the smile drop like a stone at the apparently casual comment. ‘Yeah, maybe,’ she said. ‘Look, I’d better go. The friend I’m meeting will be here any minute now.’

‘OK. I’ll see you later.’

God, she felt so confused around him. She couldn’t work him out at all. She definitely needed to speak to him later. But before any of that, she needed to know what was going on with Sonia. Steph decided just to phone her instead of messing around with text messages. She pressed the screen on her contact list and the phone began to ring at the other end.