A door further down the hall opened and a head poked out. It was a staff member from the stables. Harry gave the lad a glare which the stable lad clearly understood, as he then hurriedly disappeared back into his room.

Harry drummed his fingers on the door. He didn’t want to carry on shouting, but, by God, he’d get her to answer the door – either that or he’d get Security to open it for him. Then he heard her reply.

‘What do you want?’

Harry took a deep breath. ‘I need to talk to you,’ he said, into the door jamb. ‘It’s important.’

‘I’m about to go to bed,’ she replied.

He allowed himself a moment to consider the idea of Steph in bed, but quickly scrubbed away the thought. ‘Please,’ he said, this time more gently.

‘Wait a minute.’

He waited patiently for the door to open. When it did, Steph was standing in her pjs with a dressing gown wrapped tightly around her, fastened with a belt. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘Can I come in?’

She opened the door wider and allowed him into the room. ‘This is like déjà vu,’ she commented, closing the door, but not moving away. Harry didn’t miss the slight wobble in her voice.

He smiled to reassure her. ‘I just wanted to check you were OK,’ he said. It sounded like a feeble excuse.

‘You could have texted.’

‘I did but it didn’t go through. Got a non-delivery notification.’

‘Oh?’ Steph glanced across the room at the bedside table. Harry followed her gaze and saw her phone there. He went over and passed it to her. Steph inspected it and frowned. ‘It’s dead. Must need charging.’ She slipped the phone into her dressing-gown pocket. ‘Anyway, as you can see, I’m fine.’

‘You sure? Only my mum said she’d bumped into you up by the lake. She said you seemed distracted and a bit jumpy.’

‘Really? Well, I only jumped because I didn’t know your mum was there, and prior to that I was just looking out across the water. It’s mesmerising.’

‘I saw you out running about an hour ago.’ He watched her face carefully for a reaction but there was none. He carried on. ‘You looked like you were heading for the lake.’

She gave a shrug. ‘Yeah. I like to run in the evenings; it’s quieter and gives me more thinking time.’

‘Did you go to the lake?’

‘Yeah. Ran around it and back here to my room. I didn’t see you.’

He looked down and noticed a pile of wet clothes on the floor. Running gear. ‘You got wet?’

She looked a little uneasy this time. ‘I tripped,’ she said. ‘Along the edge of the lake.’

He wasn’t sure he believed her but he couldn’t disprove what she was saying either. ‘So you’re OK, then?’ he asked finally.

‘Totally.’