There was a problem. Trisha didn’t finish work until after nine, and Michaela was ready to drop. Trisha slid into the seat opposite her and fiddled with her dishrag.

‘Would you be all right with taking a room at the hotel?’ she asked. ‘Just for tonight, I promise. Only I don’t finish work for hours yet and what with living at home, it’s all a bit awkward to arrange without warning.’ She screwed her face up and reached for Michaela’s hand. ‘I’ll come over after I finish here? Is that okay?’

Michaela turned Trisha’s hand over and looked at the soft palm, the curve of fingers. She smiled. ‘Of course that’s okay. I don’t want to cause any trouble with your mom.’

Trisha pressed her free hand to her forehead. ‘You’re not going to cause any trouble,’ she said. ‘I won’t let there be any trouble, because I reckon you’re the only one with a shit show in hell of figuring out what’s going on.’ She stood up and smiled. Michaela thought she looked tired. ‘I’ll give the hotel a call. It’s only a block down. I wish I could come with you now, Michaela, but it’ll be the evening rush soon.’

Michaela looked around at the almost empty diner. ‘A rush?’ she asked.

Trisha barked a laugh. ‘Actually yeah. Anyway, I’ll organise to take tomorrow off and I’ll come down after work, okay? You don’t need to wait up or anything if you’re absolutely whacked. Maria at the desk will give me a key.’ She leaned down and gave Michaela a quick kiss. ‘A block down,’ she said. ‘On the corner, you can’t miss it. I’ll see you after, okay?’ She grinned and the old Trisha Michaela remembered was looking at her. ‘Can’t believe you’re here, babe,’ Trisha said. ‘Fuck me Freddy but it’s good to see you.’

The day outside the diner was dimming towards twilight. Michaela shrugged down into her jacket and looked around. Across the street a drugstore and hair salon butted up beside each other. A dispirited second hand bookshop lurked in the shadows on one corner. None of it looked especially prosperous, as though these businesses had been sitting hunched over the same customers doing the same business for so long no one could remember why anymore.

Michaela shook off her fanciful thoughts and got back into the car, driving the couple hundred yards to the hotel. She cast a glance over it before pushing open the door. She’d been right to think the word hotel hadn’t meant five star tourist trap. It was old instead, bar, restaurant and accommodation. She went in and looked around the foyer. A murmur of voices from the right and she looked through the windowed door at a trio of old men warming a row of stools at a polished bar. She backed away and rang the bell for service.

The room was small, but clean and tidy, and this one had its own bathroom, though it looked like it had probably been a closet in a past incarnation. Michaela thanked the round young woman who had shown her up and the woman giggled happily and asked if Michaela would be wanting some dinner. Michaela shook her head.

‘No problem,’ the woman said, giggling again. ‘I’ll let Trisha up when she’s off work, that be all right? She said you’re a friend of hers.’

Michaela put her satchel down on the bed and made an effort to smile at the cheerful young woman. ‘That would be great if you could,’ she said. ‘Trisha and I haven’t seen each other in ages.’ She looked down at her arms. No ink showing.

The woman gave a bit of a wave and slipped out the door. Michaela closed it behind her and leaned against it. She took a breath. She was here. She’d really done it. Packed up without a moment’s warning and flown all this way because of one half-assed phone call. Was she crazy or what?

Then she thought of Trisha’s expression in the diner. Shock, she thought, naturally enough, and quite a bit of delight in there too, which was definitely good, but the other? She thought maybe it had been relief, and that was the one that made her pause as she stood there, head leaned back against the door, eyes closed. Relief was puzzling, because that meant something was going on.

Something Trisha thought Michaela could fix. And that was definitely a worry.

She yawned, checked her watch, still having to dig it out of her pocket. No wonder she was tired. At home it was the middle of the night. She’d have a shower, lie down, watch a bit of TV before Trisha turned up. Good plan. She rubbed her face and went to her bag for toiletries.

She fell asleep watching a movie she couldn’t for the life of her follow. She woke with the sensation of someone watching her.