He ran the last few hundred yards, but she was already there when he arrived. She was texting, and didn’t see him until he was at the table. ‘Sorry, just a work thing for tomorrow.’ She turned off her phone and put it in her handbag. ‘You look exhausted. D’you feel all right?’ ‘Better than I must look. No reason I should be tired. Haven’t done anything all day.’ ‘No, but you’ve been arrested. You’ve been done to, which is worse. Now, tell me everything. Why you’re back at work, what you’re doing, how the arrest came about, everything, all over again if you can bear it. Start from the beginning.’ His story lasted well into their main course. He talked quietly, pausing whenever he noticed that the young couple at the next table had fallen silent. The man kept stealing looks at Sarah, as men had always done. It pleased Charles to think he wasn’t alone in finding her still attractive, but fortunately the couple were mainly occupied by their own soulful conversation and did not appear to be listening.
