‘It’s 84787. The second eight’s smudged. Merlot I think. Looks like a three but it’s an eight. That’s right, good. So, Daddy gets out, and you make him pay by nagging him while you poison him slowly. Or is your plan to unman him all over again – how do you un-man a superhero like your father? MISOGNY MAN! Can demoralise a woman with a single glance.’

‘My mother managed.’

‘You think your mother emasculated your father?’

‘He couldn’t find work in Glasgow.’

‘What a bitch.’

‘Are you going through the change?’ Holly had taken Mary’s sarcasm and raised it one fuck-you.

What was that rising from Mary’s belly: heat? ‘I’ve always been like this.’ She wasn’t sure if she was lying.

‘Mmhmm,’ judged the girl. ‘I caught her at it two years earlier, you know that? Night before my fourteenth – got up as usual to see if my presents were in the lounge and if one was bike-shaped. Heard her whispering in her office, so I peeked in thinking she might be wrapping it, but she was Skyping a hairy dude with her top off. She promised not to do it again if I promised not to tell. So, for two years I lied to him, the person I loved most in the world. Can you imagine what it felt like? And she kept on doing it.’

‘You think your mother was a whore?’

The girl shook her head; not a no, not a yes.

‘Fair enough then, eh? Drown the slut.’

Holly put her pen down. ‘I’m gonna need a bigger form.’

A vision of pink-haired Mary intruded: twenty-five, all hopey and carey and believing the things clients told her. Pink-haired Mary would never get herself into this situation, and if she did she’d be shitting herself. A complaint? Oh my God, sorry. What have I done; what should I do? Intrusive thought. Mary banished it.

‘I was very good at my job for over twenty-nine years,’ she said. ‘I was all – “and how does that make you feel?” – but yesterday I decided to leave, which means I don’t have to pretend to care anymore and I don’t have time to manipulate you into seeing the truth. I’ve decided to be bad at this job. My guess is that I’ll be much better at it when I’m bad at it. Being good has rather held me back. Your father’s dangerous; tell him to get to fuck.’

‘I’d rather tell you.’

‘Practise on me.’

Holly stood and pointed in the direction of fuck. ‘Get to fuck.’