Stuart sat back and looked at her with critical eyes. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, you don’t look at all well. And you’ve lost weight since the party.’ He leaned closer and dropped his voice. ‘Is everything okay?’

She frowned. He didn’t know. ‘I thought you’d have heard,’ she said. ‘Even if Jack hadn’t had a chance to tell you, I would have thought the news would have spread around the office by now.’

He shook his head. ‘You’re talking in riddles, Molly.’

‘The reason I didn’t turn up the last time. I was on my way to meet you, but I was knocked down. The police think someone deliberately pushed me in front of a car.’ As Stuart’s eyes widened in horror, she attempted a smile that wavered on one corner of her mouth before fading. ‘I broke a rib, have more bruises than I can count, and ache all over, but apart from that I’m okay.’

Stuart ran a hand over his mouth and shook his head. ‘Seriously? Someone tried to hurt you?’

She wanted to correct him. Someone had wanted to kill her, but his disbelief brought a weary chuckle and she let it go. ‘Seriously! I appear to have got mixed up with the wrong kind of people.’

The arrival of the coffees and sandwich gave Stuart a moment to recover. ‘For goodness’ sake,’ he said, looking around anxiously. ‘Should you be out?’

She shrugged. ‘The police told me to stay indoors, but I don’t feel any safer there. I thought meeting you would take my mind off things.’ She leaned both arms on the table, the cup of coffee between her hands. ‘Why did you want to meet me?’

Stuart, in the act of taking a bite of his sandwich, stopped, put it down and groaned. ‘How can I tell you bad news, after what you’ve told me?’

Molly’s fingers tightened on the handle of the cup. Bad news. Across the table, Stuart had picked up his sandwich again and was making inroads into the first half. Why had she never noticed his weak chin before, his rather watery blue eyes? ‘Well,’ she said, her voice sharp, ‘I know there’s something going on. Jack has been so stressed recently but he won’t talk about it. Now you’ve told me there’s bad news. It would be kinder to tell me the details, rather than leaving me guessing, wouldn’t it?’

‘Okay, let me finish this,’ he said, picking up the second half of his sandwich, his eyes avoiding hers.