Her smartphone wakes her at seven. At seven thirty, she is at breakfast. Shortly after, Tom joins her. At eight she is back in her room, where Kenny is sleeping off his jet-lag, thank God. She writes a note that she will not be back before evening. Then she gets the hotel staff to open Strathairns room for her, packs a few things and drives to the hospital.

  Strathairn is still in the ICU, but she is allowed to talk to him. Faith sits down beside him, taking his hand. “George, you gave us a fright. It’s good to have you still with us.”

  Strathairn tries to speak, but he can barely croak. Faith tells him not to exert himself. “Get some rest, George. You should have taken a rest some time ago. I’m so sorry that I didn’t notice that you were not okay.”

  “We’re better than ever before”, he croaks.

  “Thanks to you”, she says. “But now others have to do the job. Is there anyone I can call? Anyone you’d like to see?”

  “Malcolm”, he whispers, closing his eyes.

  “Malcolm Waters?” It is the only Malcolm Faith can think of. Former race driver, old friend of her grandfather, and, now that she is thinking of him, rarely seen without Strathairn at any Claymore-related function. She had never considered the possibility that these two might be together. “Okay”, she says, presses George’s hand and goes outside to call Nicholas and ask him to send her Waters’ number. While she is waiting, she texts Tom. “Did you know that George and Malcolm Waters are an item?”

  Then she gets the number, calls Waters and does her best to sound optimistic. He promises to come at once, and to get back to her with his flight details. She offers to find him a hotel near the hospital and arrange for airport transfer.

  Before she goes back in to Strathairn, she reads Tom’s reply. “Of course. Didn’t you? Where did you have your eyes?” Good question. Next question.

  “Malcolm will be down this afternoon”, she tells Strathairn. “I’ll stick around until he tells me when he’ll be in Marseille. Then I’ll leave you in peace.”

  Strathairn tries to speak again. “Deniz’ car, the front wing, left side…”

  “George, these are not your problems right now.”

  But he insists that she texts Tom and tells him to have a look at the front wing of Deniz’ car. Then he closes his eyes and she goes out again, pacing up and down, eventually getting the flight details from Malcolm and arranging for transfer and accommodation. Tom sends a picture, showing a piece of metal stuck in a piece of carbon fibre. It looks as if Deniz had picked up some debris on the track, which could have caused a flat, or even a bad accident if it had come loose during the session. George had probably meant to replace the part before she and Kenny had arrived.

  She shows him the picture and he nods. She thanks him, assuring him that Malcolm will be there around seven, and then she heads to the race track.

  Daijiro Mori makes use of Faith’s absence during the morning session to talk to Tom. “How is Strathairn?”

  “He’ll be okay. But it was close.”

  “This is good to hear. He was lucky that you were around.”

  “Yes, he was lucky”, Tom agrees. He is sure that this is not all Mori wants to talk about.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Mori is silent for a moment. Then he says, “Miss Casadoro is back.”

  It is not a question. Tom can choose what he is going to let on. He would have preferred it if Faith cleaned up her own mess, but Mori looks as if he has not slept in a fortnight. “Yes, she arrived last night”, he says. “From Las Vegas. She has gotten married.”

  Mori does not show any reaction. Maybe he needs a second too long for his next question. “Whom did she marry?”

  “His name is Kenny Payne. They met at the gala in Monaco. From there they went straight to Vegas. He is a pop star.”

  Mori nods. Tom sympathizes with him. “Mr Mori, I believe she regrets it already. She has already tried to get out of the marriage, but Payne does not want to release her. Faith’s wealth is a big part of the attraction, I fear. Payne is broke, as far as I know.” He feels like a chatterbox, but Mori has a right to know what the woman he has fixed his intentions on has gotten herself into. “I’m sorry.”

  Mori just thanks him and leaves.

  Daijiro Mori is used to solving problems. He has registered Tom’s information and come to the conclusion that there is, indeed, something he can do. He composes a message to Payne which he has delivered to the hotel. He wants to meet this man.

  In the evening, he goes to the front desk of the hotel, asking for Mr Payne. The woman points him towards the bar. He thanks her, walks into the bar and looks around. The most important thing is that Faith is not there; he knows that she is at the hospital. Payne is easy to recognize – a tall, conventionally attractive man in his mid twenties, the short dark hair died blond at the tips, dressed casually but fashionably. He is the centre of a circle of noisy people, talking, gesturing, laughing. Mori is not an expert on human behaviour, but he sees that this man is the opposite of himself. This does not hurt. He does not draw any conclusions as to Faiths likes or dislikes. He is here to solve a problem.

  It is not hard to attract Payne’s attention. He just has to stand on the other side of the bar for a minute. Then he sits down in a niche, away from the laughter and the noise, and waits. Shortly after, Faith Casadoro’s husband is sitting down across from him.

  Mori bears the long seconds during which Payne looks him up and down. He also bears the insolent “Hi” which Payne offers instesd of a proper greeting. Then he does not waste any time.

  “Mr Payne, I have learnt that you do not intend to respect Miss Casadoro’s wish to annull your marriage. Miss Casadoro does not know of this meeting. I have come to make a suggestion that might help you to change your mind.”

  Faith is still thinking about her visit to Strathairn when she drives home from the hospital. It has moved her to see how tenderly Waters is looking after his partner, and how Strathairns eyes light up whenever he looks at him. How could she have missed that?

  Waters and herself had to team up to convince Strathairn that there is really no way that he will return to the circus any time soon. They have agreed that he and Malcolm are going to stay in France for the rehab. What will happen in the coming season they have not discussed. It is going to be hard to replace Strathairn, but Faith has seen that it is even harder on Strathairn to be replaced. You can take the man out of the circus, but you cannot take the circus out of the man, apparently.

  She is suddenly in a bad fix. If Tom leaves to join Mori, and if she has to replace Strathairn as well, she cannot see how she is going to go on in the coming season. That they did not do very well today and are not going to do any better tomorrow is a minor problem compared to what lies ahead. Even her personal problems, self inflicted as they are, pale against what lies ahead for Claymore.

  Her personal problems cannot be ignored, however. How she could have been so stupid and irresponsible she still does not understand. It has been a week since she had first met Kenny, and she wishes that it had never happened. For four days, she had been intoxicated, somehow, and believed that she could not live without him. Now she loathes the very thought of him. She hates the very things she had adored him for – his recklessness, his playfulness, his passion. He had seemed like the perfect remedy against all the pressure she experiences and all the rules she has to obey. Now he has become her worst nightmare, her sorest pressure point, and she has to deal with it all alone.

  What to do with a husband who takes drugs? She does not believe for one second that he intends to stop. She does not want to waste her spoons on fighting with him. Fighting for him she wants even less. He is a grown man; he can ruin his life in whichever way he wants. It is none of her business. She wants him gone. The lawyer in Las Vegas has given her a road map, and she is following it, and this means she has to play along for at least another week.

  When she enters her suite, she is extremely glad that he is not around.