His mobile rang and he answered it. It was Harry, at the garage.

‘They say it’s going to take a whole new engine to make that heap of junk roadworthy. And that’ll cost.’

‘Tell them to do whatever’s necessary,’ Carson said, without hesitation.

‘Look, guv, you don’t need to buy that woman a new engine-’

‘Just do it,’ Carson Page said brusquely, and hung up. ‘They’re working on your car now,’ he told Gina.

‘Is it bad?’

‘Nothing that can’t be fixed.’

‘Is it going to cost you a lot?’

He dismissed the subject with a shrug. ‘It’s history. Leave it.’

‘But-’

‘I said leave it.’ He sounded impatient. ‘You’ll have your car back in working order, but I should think you could afford a better one if you’re a lawyer.’

‘I haven’t been qualified long, but I suppose I might think of it now.’

‘You certainly should, for everyone’s sake,’ he said gravely, but his eyes were kind.

Impulsively she said, ‘You’ll probably think I’m crazy but I’ll be sorry to say goodbye to my “peanut”. It’s been a good friend and it’s sad to think that I’ll go onward and upward while my friend will languish in a scrapyard, waiting to be broken up.’

‘Not for a while yet. When the garage has finished with it you’ll be able to sell it to someone equally crazy.’

‘That’s true,’ she said, brightening. ‘And they might love it as I do.’ She tucked into her salad, which had arrived while they were talking, plainly feeling happier now.

Carson watched her in fascination as he munched on his sandwich. Then he turned his inward eye on himself and was incredulous. He prided himself on not being sentimental, but he’d accepted the blame, and the expense, for something that had been only partly his fault.