He tried to tell himself that it was much too soon for the tests to be processed, and Snyder was merely checking the room, not just him, as Malcolm said he would.

A call from Caroline took him into the cellar, where she was trying to change a beer barrel.

‘I should be the one doing that,’ he told her.

‘You were too busy studying that detective.’ She gave him a smile. ‘Ease up, soldier, I’ve got your back. I promise.’

He laughed. This was how it used to be between them. He found himself sorry that he’d messed up so badly.

Perhaps sensing this, she reached up and kissed him. For a brief moment he responded, just as he would have done in times gone by, before withdrawing and apologizing.

A flash of anger in her eyes told him the apology had been a mistake.

‘Caroline,’ he tried.

‘Don’t Caroline me.’ She studied him. ‘So, I’ve to lie to the detective even though you feel nothing for me any more?’

‘That’s not true,’ he began.

‘What’s not true? That I have to lie or that you feel nothing?’

‘We’ve not been together for a while now. It was the lockdown. You know that.’

‘Well, we weren’t all obeying lockdown all of the time. Were we, Greg?’

The barb hit home. Before he could respond, he heard Malcolm shouting for him.

‘We’ll talk properly at another time, I promise,’ Greg said.

For a moment her gaze softened. ‘You’ve made promises in the past,’ she said quietly. ‘The problem is you don’t know how to keep them.’

Coming out of the cellar, Greg was even more discomforted to discover Joanne standing at the bar.

‘Here you go,’ Malcolm said, handing her a large glass of white wine. ‘On the house, Joanne. Or maybe I’ll take it out of Greg’s wages,’ he joked.

‘It seems to be going well,’ Joanne said, filling the awkward silence that followed Malcolm’s attempts at levity.

Greg finally found his voice, although all he could think about was what had just gone down with Caroline in the cellar. ‘It is. They’ve already emptied one beer barrel.’

Caroline, who’d followed him out, gave Joanne the briefest nod of acknowledgement, then informed Greg she was going to the kitchen to help with the stovies.

‘What are stovies?’ Joanne said, obviously mystified.

Malcolm laughed. ‘I’ll leave it to Greg to explain.’

‘A Scottish delicacy,’ Greg told her.

‘You mean like haggis?’

‘Different, but equally tasty.’ He met her eyes for the first time since his emergence from the cellar.

Joanne seemed to gather herself before saying, ‘I need to tell you something.’

That was music to his ears. ‘Okay. D’you want to go outside for a bit? It’s noisy in here.’