He stiffens, scratching at a dried smear on the table, and looks as though he’s hoping for a waitress to come and clean it and rescue him from me, into the bargain. When no one appears, he pushes his cup away and picks up his phone, activating it and glancing at the screen. No messages. No excuse from Nick for not turning up.

‘No.’

I don’t believe him, and it must show on my face, because he frowns as though he’s remembering something. It feels a little like play-acting to me.

‘Actually, there is something. When I spoke to one of the others who’d been on that holiday, she told me something interesting.’ He stops fiddling with his phone and looks directly at me. ‘But it can’t go any further than this room.’

‘That’s fine by me.’ But not a promise, I add silently.

‘Back then, Tim was starting a restaurant, but his main investor pulled out. I can’t remember his name, but anyway, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that it turns out it was Angus who warned this guy off; basically told him that it was dodgy. The restaurant folded pretty quickly after that. I doubt Ritchie’s would have succeeded anyway, but I’d imagine that put the knockers on it.’

‘Angus?’

‘Angus Moody. His family owned the house we stayed in that summer.’

My stomach flips. ‘But he’s Nick’s boss.’

‘Shit, is he?’ He pauses, looking suspiciously like a man trying to work out what this means, but if I’ve learned anything in the last twenty minutes, it’s that thinking on his feet is not Alex Wells’ strong point. ‘Angus spent a lot of time talking to him, so maybe they stayed in touch.’ He smiles ruefully. ‘I wish he’d given me half the advice he gave Nick.’

All I know about Angus Moody is that Nick did an internship with his company before he went to university. Three years after graduating Nick was head-hunted by Angus from HSBC. I had no idea that their connection went back further than that. Why wouldn’t Nick have told me? He talked about him often enough.

‘Can we backtrack a little? How did you all know each other?’

He looks at me as if I’m slow. ‘Angus and his wife Lorna are old friends of my parents.’

I rub the space between my eyes. If Angus was instrumental in ruining Tim, that would have crushed Nick if he found out.

‘He tried to warn Mum and Dad, but unfortunately they ignored his advice. I was supposed to keep it quiet, but …’

I look at him steadily and he flushes and shrugs.

‘But you told Nick? Is that it, Alex? You told him that Angus Moody killed off his father’s dream?’

‘I thought it would help.’

I grit my teeth. Talking to Alex Wells is like wading through treacle. ‘And this was on Friday?’