‘I tried to stop a fight.’ He shrugged. ‘Which didn’t go down well with the bloke who was winning.’

And with that he was in.

McNab hoped the invite might take him as far as the sitting room, but every door off the hall was firmly shut. On a positive note, he saw no sign of a strange jacket where his had once hung.

He shifted his gaze back to Ellie, who was silently awaiting whatever he’d come there to say. He tried to read her expression but couldn’t.

‘I wanted to tell you . . . I’m okay about sharing you with someone else.’

In the silence that followed, the stupid words echoed in his brain.

‘Fuck it,’ he said. ‘That came out all wrong. What I meant to say was, I really want to see you again – on your own terms, that is.’ He tried his cheeky grin as a finale and was miraculously awarded with the ghost of a smile from Ellie.

‘I’ll think about that,’ she said.

‘Oh and Janice asked if we would like to come to dinner with her and Paula. Seems Paula’s a great cook . . .’ He slowed to a halt.

Ellie’s eyes were fixed on him. He had this notion she was reading his soul and finding it dark and tortured. So no surprise there then.

‘When?’ she said.

‘The date’s still to be decided,’ he rushed on. ‘I’ve to let them know when you’re free.’

‘Will your face be back to normal by then?’

Was that a yes? McNab wasn’t altogether sure. ‘It might get worse before it gets better,’ he offered.

‘Hope you gave as good as you got,’ Ellie said. ‘I’ll text you when I’m free.’

And that was it. McNab found himself swiftly back on the landing with the door shut.

Rhona had warned him not to mention Baldy and the altercation when he was out with Cleverly. He was glad he’d taken her advice.

He found himself whistling as he descended the stairs. He was in again. Maybe just a little, but it was a start.

Emerging onto the street, he found the rain had come on. He didn’t care. A wee drop of rain never hurt anyone, his mother used to say. He paused for a moment to look up at Ellie’s window, hoping she might be there again, waiting for him to appear. She might even look down, see him and wave.

His hopes in that direction didn’t last long.

There was a figure at the window, but it wasn’t Ellie. It was Baldy and he was giving him the finger.

28

They’d begun with the computer room victim.