Things had come to a crashing halt at the end of the tour when it was clear he’d wanted more. I hadn’t. And we’d reached a healthy compromise of just sleeping together every time we saw each other. Until the day I’d had to say no. Because of Will. And then all hell had broken loose. He could understand a girl not ever wanting to settle down. But not a girl not wanting to settle down with him.

I carefully brought the vent cover down and dropped it onto the floor. Retrieving the iPad from my bag, I got back up and slotted it in through the open vent.

The iPad contained the digital receiver to which all the listening devices transmitted back.

Now came the tricky part.

I put both hands onto the open vent and hauled myself up. I clicked on the receiver and started it up. ‘No signal’ flashed up.

‘G, it’s saying no signal.’

‘There could be interference from the other electronic devices there. Try it further down the vent.’

I wasn’t sure how stable the vent was going to be or how far down it I could get. I pulled myself up and looked around; the light from my head torch lit up enough to see how the vent narrowed. I pushed the iPad further across. I peered over the top. There was still a red cross.

I reached over and clicked the refresh button. Still nothing. I was going to have to risk going further in. I pulled myself fully up into the vent and crawled along it with the iPad.

I kept refreshing the screen with every inch I moved forward.

It was only when I was six feet from the opening that a green tick appeared. It was finally online. I clicked on the links button and saw nine green lines. All the listening devices were working and linked. We were up and running.

I reverse-shuffled back towards the opening to Suite One. There was a creaking noise and then another.

Fuck.

It clearly wasn’t going to hold my weight.

There was no time for a graceful re-entry. I propelled myself backwards through the hole in the ceiling with one big push and landed on the dining table. The thump of my weight cracked it, and sent the vase of flowers flying. It smashed onto the floor.

‘Bloody hell!’ said Johnnie, leaping up from the sofa.

I lay on top of the broken dining table. A little dazed but otherwise unhurt. I shook myself and slid off the table. Then I reached down to pick the vent cover off the floor, climbed onto a chair and slotted it back into place.

‘Hand me the robot.’

Johnnie quickly did as asked and I tightened all the screws back in.