‘Yes. Something which particularly irritated her was your relationship with Alison. She couldn’t understand why you liked her so much. She wanted you to approve of all her choices and share all of her opinions. She needed that, for some reason – as well as everything else you had in the world, of course. But whatever,’ he shrugged, ‘by her standards, she likes you – loves you even.’

I heaved a sigh, feeling my anger towards her dissipating into pity. ‘Strange way of showing it.’

‘Yes, well,’ he murmured, ‘I’m not throwing any stones here.’

I watched as he slumped slightly in his chair, as if guilt was a physical burden. ‘I believe you, by the way,’ I said.

He looked at me over the top of his mug. ‘About Ruby?’

‘About being sorry.’

‘Oh.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Thank you. I’ll tell my therapist that too. God knows we need some uplift in our sessions. I thought he was going to cry when I told him about Ruby throwing her drink over me and then followed that up with the news that you still despised me and hadn’t believed a word I’d said. But he’s helping me a lot,’ he continued quietly. ‘He’s a good guy; reminds me of—’

He stopped short and we both looked towards the hallway as the front door slammed shut.

‘Giles,’ said Jason, the colour draining from his face.

I nodded and, as we listened to the clinks and rustles of a lead, coat and boots being removed, I looked questioningly at him.

‘If he’s OK with it,’ he said, ‘it’d be good to see him. If not, I’ll go. It’s fine.’

I hesitated for a moment and then, taking a deep breath, stood up. ‘OK,’ I whispered, ‘I’ll go and talk to him and, in the meantime, you show some optimism, and put the kettle on.’

Chapter 24

‘For you.’ I placed the cup of coffee on Luke’s desk and smiled.

‘Wow, thanks,’ he said, turning in his chair. ‘Haven’t seen you here this early for a while.’

‘I know. Mornings are a lot slower since I moved to Henleaze,’ I said, walking to my desk.

‘So why so early today?’ He glanced up at the large clock which hung on the wall at Cameron’s end of the office. ‘It’s only just eight.’

‘I’ve got a bit of catching up to do after last week.’ I sat down and placed my satchel on the desk in front of me. ‘It was my least productive four-day week ever.’

He prised the lid from his coffee and blew. ‘How are you? You look way better than you did on Thursday.’

‘To be fair, the only way was up really, wasn’t it?’ I smiled. ‘And I got a few things sorted over the weekend.’