I took a moment before replying. ‘Relatively certain,’ I said, continuing to focus on Anthony.

Giles nudged me. ‘Out with it.’

‘Are you sure you want to hear it? It’s really unpleasant workplace stuff,’ I warned.

‘Work?’ he frowned. ‘I can’t remember you ever having a problem with work.’

‘Me neither,’ I agreed. ‘But I do now.’

In response, he tented his fingers, pressing them thoughtfully against his lips. ‘Lay it on me.’

When I finished my grim account of events several minutes later, Giles’s expression was uncharacteristically stern. ‘My advice would be to discuss the matter with your boss when Ruby has gone,’ he said. ‘It would provide an opportunity for you to clarify exactly what happened and to express your reservations regarding working with your new colleague.’

I shook my head. ‘I promised Ruby I wouldn’t mention it to anyone. The whole thing was supposed to be entirely confidential.’

‘And yet Ruby chose not to keep it confidential.’

‘Only for my sake,’ I pointed out.

‘I accept that, but my advice would nevertheless be to talk to your boss. You might find hiding your feelings more difficult than you think.’

‘OK, I’ll give it some thought.’

‘Are your other colleagues aware of the situation?’ he asked.

‘I’m guessing not. I haven’t noticed any tension between them and him. Mind you,’ I ran a hand through my hair, ‘I hadn’t noticed any tension between him and Ruby until yesterday. I think I’ve just been so focused on keeping my current project on track that I’ve been in a bit of a bubble. And then, on top of that work worry,’ I continued miserably, ‘Jason texted me again yesterday.’

‘Again? I didn’t know he’s texted you at all.’ There was anxiety, as well as surprise, in his tone: Jason Hume was not an easy topic for either of us. He and Giles had become good friends during the time that Jason and I had dated, and as far as Giles was concerned, Jason’s betrayal of me had also been a betrayal of their friendship.

To make matters worse, Giles maintained a wholly misplaced sense of guilt for not, as he put it, spotting the monster in Jason. I had tried many times to set his mind at rest on the matter. Ruby had been absolutely right when she’d said that no one had had Jason pegged as the kind of man prone to shagging strangers at Paris conferences, Prague stag nights and Ipswich funerals. But the fact that Giles was just one of a multitude of friends and family members who had failed to spot the monster in their midst did nothing to ease his sense of guilt, and he and Jason had neither met, messaged nor talked since the day I had asked my ex to leave our home, over eighteen months earlier.