Rhona tried not to laugh, since there was no one more casual than Chrissy regarding boyfriends. Not since wee Michael’s dad, Sam, had returned to Nigeria had a relationship lasted more than a couple of weeks.

‘Have you heard from Sam recently?’ Rhona ventured.

‘He FaceTimes wee Michael once a week. And we chat for a bit. Just as friends. In fact, he’s getting married soon. Apparently she’s a doctor too. They’re having a big African wedding.’

Chrissy’s tone suggested she was okay about that. After all, Sam had asked her to go back with him to Nigeria and be his bride, but she’d refused. Rhona knew how difficult that decision had been for Chrissy.

They headed for the bar and Chrissy ordered up their usual. Sean, spotting them, raised his saxophone mid-tune to acknowledge their arrival.

‘Does he play for you at home?’ Chrissy said.

‘Only the jazz pieces I like,’ said Rhona. ‘Those that have a recognizable tune,’ she added.

Their conversation shifted to McNab.

‘Rumour has it,’ Chrissy said conspiratorially, ‘that he’s back in touch with Mary Stevenson.’

McNab had gone to school with Mary, when she was the teenage Mary Grant, a girl from the Highlands who’d moved to Glasgow. Sadly, despite McNab’s adoration, Mary had chosen to marry McNab’s pal, the owner of multiple betting shops in Glasgow, who was now serving a prison sentence for some pretty unsavoury crimes.

‘So he and Ellie aren’t a thing any more?’ Rhona said, a little saddened by that.

Ellie, a biker, had stayed around longer than most of the others. Rhona liked her. She was certainly fit for McNab.

‘She wants an open relationship. McNab doesn’t, apparently. So he broke it off,’ Chrissy said.

The last case they’d all been on together had caused a few personal difficulties, both between herself and Sean, and Ellie and McNab. Sean had made himself scarce shortly after that, heading for gigs in Paris. At the time it looked as though it might be over between them. However, their time spent apart, as always, seemed to do the trick, and they’d fallen back into the same old routine.

‘Maybe she’s fed up being stood up when he heads out on a job?’ Rhona said. ‘Though in the past, McNab wasn’t that keen on exclusivity. On his part, anyway.’

‘Aye, there’s always one rule for the goose and another for the gander,’ Chrissy said. ‘Talking of which, here comes the gander now.’

Rhona followed Chrissy’s gaze to the door, where McNab and Janice were heading towards them.

‘Okay, what’s going on here?’ He looked swiftly from Chrissy to Rhona and back again. ‘My ears were definitely burning on the way down the stairs,’ he said accusingly.

Chrissy guffawed. ‘Who says we were talking about you?’

‘Hope it wasn’t me then?’ Janice said, eyebrows raised.