‘But to cut her wrists like that, Mum. She was more worried about you reading the diary than anything else.’

‘And so she should have been, the ungrateful little villain!’

Patrick sipped his drink. This was getting personal.

‘I think I better go soon, I know you have a lot to talk about.’

Kate nodded. The driver was sitting outside waiting and suddenly she remembered him.

‘Oh, your poor Willy must be freezing!’

‘I beg your pardon, Kate Burrows?’

Despite herself she laughed at her mother’s scandalised face.

‘That’s his driver, Mum. Willy’s his name. He’s waiting outside for Patrick.’

‘Oh I see. Well, bring him in. We don’t stand on ceremony in this house.’

Patrick drank up quickly. Somehow he didn’t think Kate’s mother was quite ready for Willy yet.

‘No, I’ve intruded long enough. I just wanted to make sure that Kate got home OK.’ He stood up and the two women stood with him. He shook Evelyn’s hand. ‘It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs . . .’

‘O’Dowd. Evelyn O’Dowd.’

He smiled at her again. ‘Mrs O’Dowd, I hope we meet again, in more pleasant circumstances.’

‘So do I, son.’

Kate went out to the hall with him and Patrick kissed her gently. ‘You stop worrying now, Kate, and if you need anything, anything at all, you just ring me. OK?’

Kate nodded, too full of unshed tears to answer.

She watched him walk down the path and get into his Rolls-Royce. When the car was out of sight she shut the door and went back into the warmth of the lounge.

‘Well, you’re a dark horse and no mistake.’

‘Oh, Mum, he’s just a friend.’

Kate sat down and picked up her drink again.

‘Just a friend is he? Well, if you want my advice, I’d say make him more than a friend, if you get my meaning. Men like that don’t grow on trees.’

‘He owns massage parlours, Mum.’

Evelyn O’Dowd had her own set of principles, which she changed and updated depending on the situation.

‘Well, we can’t all be policemen can we? He’s a good kind man by the looks of him. You take my advice and grab him quick, then you can show him what he’s doing wrong.’

Kate sipped her drink.

‘If the Chief Constable knew that I was seeing Patrick, all hell would break loose.’

Kate didn’t know that the Chief Constable knew all about her and Kelly. Patrick Kelly and Frederick Flowers went back a long way. They were much closer than anyone knew - except the two of them, and they certainly wouldn’t be telling anyone.

Evelyn bridled in her chair.

‘Well, in that case you just refer him to me, young lady. What you do when you’re out of that station is none of his business.’