And dammit. If Rosie didn’t pick up, Hannah didn’t see that she had a choice. She was going to have to accept his offer of help.

‘Look, I get it, okay. You don’t like me; you don’t want to be interviewed by me. But I don’t see how you’re safely going to get three dogs home unless you let me help you.’

When she stared at him but didn’t argue, he continued.

‘How about a compromise? I’ll get you home and I promise I won’t mention a word about my book or what happened back then.’

She was silent for a moment as she digested that. ‘And what is the compromise?’

‘I’m writing this story, Hannah, with or without your help, and I’m sorry you don’t like that.’

Of course she didn’t like it and she knew the others in the Hixton Five would feel the same. Lauren, Jill, and Tash had all moved on with their lives, but Hannah knew they were guarded about their past, and Rosie would never cope with having everything dug up.

As for poor Miles, he wasn’t even here to defend himself.

‘It’s not okay, you know. Using what happened to us to try to make money for yourself.’

She swore she saw a flash of temper in his blue eyes at her accusation, but his tone when he spoke was even. ‘Is that what I’m doing?’

‘You know it is.’

‘Look, all I ask is that you take my card and you consider talking to me. You don’t have to, but I’m staying locally for the next couple of weeks, so please at least think about it.’

He raised his eyebrows slightly in question as Hannah pretended to ponder his offer.

Of course she wasn’t going to talk to him and she didn’t plan on giving him any consideration at all. The card he gave her would go straight in the bin. But she was going to need his help getting Rufus, Cookie, and Spot to their homes, then back to her flat, so she supposed she should at least pretend to go along with his proposal.

‘So if I think about it, you promise you’ll leave me alone?’

‘I promise.’

‘And my friend, Rosie. You won’t bother her either?’

It was Liam’s turn to hesitate and she could tell from the slight twitch as his cheek dimpled that he didn’t like the extra clause.

‘It was worse for her. Please leave her alone.’

If he already knew that, and she guessed he did, he didn’t say.

‘Okay,’ he agreed eventually. ‘So do we have a deal?’