When Kate arrived home from Jan's, Hugh was already back from his golf. There was dirt on his golf shoes, so perhaps he really had been playing golf this time.

'Hello, darling,' he said in a tired voice. Kate noticed that he had an empty whisky glass on the small table next to him. He saw the direction of her look.

'Do you think you could pour me another one?' he said, opening the business pages of the Sunday newspaper.

'I think you can get it yourself, if you really want to poison yourself to death,' Kate said. 'I've been driving and I'm tired. I need a shower. I'll tell you about what happened when I come down.'

'All right, all right,' said Hugh, and got up slowly from his armchair as she went upstairs.

When Kate came down again, Hugh was still reading his newspaper and sipping his whisky. She wondered how many glasses he had had so far.

'So how was your dear older sister Jan today? I hope she was in a better mood than last time.'

'She looked OK, but she made me really angry. Mother wasn't there and it was her eightieth birthday. I'd bought her flowers and chocolates and everything. Can you believe it? Jan had let Cindy take her to Brighton, of all places. I was furious. I'd gone all that way to see her, and she wasn't there.'

'Really? I'm sure Jan only did that to upset you. But your mother's birthday wasn't your main reason for going, was it? So what did she say about our offer for the house?' Hugh asked.

'She said she couldn't believe what I was telling her. She said it was disgusting to gamble on how long Mother would live. She said we weren't human beings any more, just machines for making money. She said a lot of things like that... then she threw me out of the house. So, the answer's no. And now I think about it, I'm not surprised. Jan's always been like that - hot-tempered, emotional, never logical. She can never think straight.'

'Oh well, we tried anyway,' said Hugh, though there was disappointment in his voice. It seemed he had really been hoping that Jan would accept their offer. 'Never mind. At least we don't have to do anything more now that she's refused our help. We don't need to worry about Jan and your mother now. It's a pity about the house though - that was a really good opportunity.'

He picked up his newspaper again. But this time Kate knew the moment was right for them to talk. She couldn't delay it any longer. There had been too many suspicious things going on. It was time to clear the air once and for all.