Santino shook his head. ‘No way I’m letting that brainless slut tell me what I can and can’t do with my own kid. I never know what she’s gonna do to me next. The point is, accidents can happen. Accidents fucking happen.’ He bunged on a smile, to mark the end of that rant.

‘Anyway, let’s sit down,’ he said. ‘Good to chill out, have a drink, not be around losers. Yeah?’

‘Uh, yeah.’

Paula sat on one of the white leather sofas and Santino sat on the other, facing her. He tipped his head towards the handbag Paula was holding by her side. ‘Because you’re a doctor, you can procure the really good stuff, am I right? You can do it nice and safe, pure, proper dose, the whole bit.’

‘Well, that’s true. But …’

‘Look, I’m in a place right now where I really need a little bit of the good stuff. But because I’ve had the cops breathing down my neck, it’s been tricky to get my hands on anything. Anything high quality, I mean. And fuck it, I deserve something good after what I’ve been through.’

Paula nodded and let him keep talking.

‘This is what I’m thinking, Doc: you want to resist temptation, you don’t want to use that—what’s the name again?’

‘Dilaudid.’

‘Here’s an idea: we could share what you’ve got in there. Half each.’

‘Oh, I don’t think … I mean, the dose I’ve got is—’

‘Okay. Okay. Not worth splitting. Here’s another idea: I buy it from you, take the temptation away. I get some of the good stuff, prescribed by a doctor—ha!—and you keep yourself lovely and clean? Everyone’s happy.’

‘Umm—I don’t know if that’s …’

Santino stood up, prowling the space between the sofas, wanting to position himself closer to Paula’s bag. He was jittery, the pitch of his voice rising, like a kid building to a tantrum.

‘Come on,’ he urged, managing a smile but barely. ‘If you don’t want it, no point wasting high-quality medical-grade stuff. And I’m doing you a favour if I stop you using it, yeah?’

‘No, look, I should probably go home.’

And that was when Santino flared into sudden, intense anger—exactly the way several witnesses had described during the trial. As Paula went to stand up, he lunged down to bellow in her face. ‘Do you think I’m an idiot? You came back here with me because you wanted me to give you an excuse to use that stuff. Right? Right? I’m right and you know it, you stuck-up bitch.’