‘Black coffee, please. Strong.’

‘But not strong enough,’ Barbara called back. And Dani thought she knew what Barbara meant by that. What she would do for a vodka on ice…

She huffed at her own immature thought and moved away from the wall of photos and back into the lounge. She took the seat next to Easton again.

‘We were just talking about Paul’s football career,’ Easton said.

‘Your colleague here,’ Matthew said, ‘he’s got his head screwed on all right. If only Paul had known someone like this back when he was a youngster.’

Dani looked over at Easton, impressed by the compliment. He flicked his eyebrows in a self-satisfied manner.

‘Paul was good, wasn’t he?’ Dani asked, looking back at Matthew.

He half-smiled and shrugged. ‘He loved his football, but… oh, I don’t know. Of course it would have been great for him to play for the Villa – that’s my team, his too – but you need more than just talent. A lot of it’s luck. Right place, right time. Even without the injury, it would have been tough, but… we’ll never know.’

Dani sensed plenty of tension in Matthew Reeve, and she had the feeling that it wasn’t all related to the news about the death of his son. There was something else underneath, as though Paul’s failed football career had long been a bone of contention in the family. She thought back to the photos on the wall. Of Paul’s distance in the pictures, and of the elder son’s graduation. How far back did all the strain go?

‘So what did Paul want to do with his life, after football was out of the picture?’ Dani asked.

‘Well that was the problem, wasn’t it? He had nothing to fall back on. We told him all along he needed a backup. We wanted him to go to uni, like Ant, but Paul was having none of it. In the end he came away from school with nothing.’

Barbara came back from the kitchen with a tray of steaming mugs and her expression turned from amenable to hostile when she heard what her husband was talking about. She pretty much slammed the tray down. Two of the cups spilled over in the process.

‘Don’t you dare talk about my Paul like that.’

‘I was just answering their question,’ Reeve said, his hackles rising too.

Barbara dished out the drinks and Dani took a long, deep inhale of her treacly black coffee, the hot vapour renewing her focus.

‘How was Paul in himself when he realised his football dream was over?’ Dani asked. She felt Barbara giving her daggers but she kept her focus on Matthew.

‘It changed him,’ he said ‘He wasn’t himself anymore. I mean, he was depressed. Maybe not… you know, not like…’

Matthew looked away from Dani as though he was treading on territory that was too close to her own position.