She held it to her ear. Unable to hear anything, she muttered, ‘Hello.’

‘Thank goodness.’

It was a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, but she struggled to remember. Shifting in her seat, sliding her feet to the ground, as if the position gave her more authority, she spoke firmly. ‘Who is this?’

‘It’s Stuart. Stuart Mercer. I’ve been trying to get hold of you.’ He sounded relieved.

Shutting her eyes in disbelief, she was tempted to hang up without another word. Instead, she gripped the handset. ‘I’m sorry, I’m not interested in meeting you.’ She heard a quick indrawn breath on the line before he spoke. This time his voice was sharp, irritated.

‘I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to get your home number,’ he said. ‘I’ve tried your mobile, but I must have the wrong number–’

‘I blocked you,’ she interrupted him without compunction. ‘I think you might have misunderstood my friendliness at the party and assumed it was something more. So, let me make this quite clear… I do not want to meet you.’ There was silence for so long that Molly thought he’d hung up, but then she heard the slight rasp of his breath. She was about to repeat herself when he spoke.

‘I think it’s you that have misunderstood,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure why I’m bothering except you always seemed like a nice woman, and there’s something I thought you should know.’

Know?

‘I’m taking a big risk contacting you,’ he continued. ‘I’d be in trouble if it came out. Listen, forget I rang.’

‘No wait,’ Molly said quickly. ‘You can’t ring up, tell me there’s something I need to know, then bugger off. What is it you want to tell me?’

‘I can’t do this over the phone. Meet me. Tomorrow at one, in the coffee shop on the corner of Ebury Street and Lower Belgrave Street. You know it? Casper’s?’

It was ten minutes’ walk from Jack’s office; she had been in it a couple of times in their early months together when they couldn’t bear not to see each other for a whole day. How long ago that seemed. How long ago it was. She couldn’t believe the café was still there. ‘Casper’s. Yes, I know it. Okay, tomorrow at one. Here’s my new mobile number, just in case.’ She reeled off the number and dropped the handset back on the stand.

Maybe Stuart would be able to tell her what was bothering Jack. It would be one worry off her mind.

19

When Jack still hadn’t arrived home by midnight, Molly headed to bed where exhaustion closed her eyes and she drifted into a restless sleep. But turmoil wasn’t a good bedfellow and after only a couple of hours she was wide awake.