the window, running quickly down the pane now. Delaney turned back to Sally Cartwright.
'I'm going outside for another smoke.'
Kate walked across the quadrangle. Her head was angled down, her eyes squinting against the rain. She looked at her shoes, getting more spattered and besmirched by the minute, but she barely registered the fact. Still numb, her mind still reeling, she walked in a daze, not noticing her friend waving to her through the window of her office or the man at the far end of the quadrangle who was watching her.
She crossed the quad and walked into the entrance, shaking her hair as she hurried up the stone steps to the first floor. Jane Harrington ushered her into her office, making sympathetic noises about being wet through and helping her out of her coat as she shut the door behind her. 'Sit down, Kate. I'll make some tea. Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?'
Kate shook her head. 'Just tea would be great.' She smiled gratefully, pleased that her friend was letting her take her time and hadn't demanded to know what had happened straight away. If she could have answered that question she wouldn't be here in the first place. Jane had been her friend for many years. In her forties she was older than her and wiser than most. She had been pestering her for years to join her in private practice at the teaching hospital and clinic attached to the university, but Kate had always had different ambitions, a different agenda. Now, as she sat cocooned in an armchair behind mullioned windows, she was not sure she had made the right choices. But what she did know was that she didn't know anyone she would rather turn to if she ever needed help. And if she ever needed help, it was certainly now.
A short while later Jane handed her a mug of strong, sweet tea and sat opposite her.
'Ready to talk about it?'
'I don't know what happened, Jane.' Her voice was strained, she felt on the verge of tears.
'Then tell me what you do know.'
'I was at the Holly Bush. Taking a swim in a bottle of vodka.'
'That's not like you.'
'I met Jack yesterday.'
Jane nodded understanding. 'It didn't go well?'
Kate shook her head. 'I decided to drown my sorrows. Bad enough to get dumped by the man. Now I'm turning into him.'
Jane smiled sympathetically. 'Go on.'
'I got chatting to a man at the bar. He'd started talking to me. I didn't think he was trying to pick me up.'
Jane Harrington frowned.
'Yeah, I know, you don't have to say it. His name is Archer. He's a doctor so I thought I could trust him for goodness' sake.'
Jane reacted at the name. 'Paul Archer?'
Kate looked up, surprised. 'Do you know him?'
Jane jerked her thumb at the window. 'He works here. He's a paediatrician.'
'What do you know about him?'
'I know he has a reputation.'
'Reputation for what?'
'As a ladies' man. He's married but it doesn't stop him apparently.'
Kate put her head in her hands. 'Shit.'
'Or didn't stop him, I should say. His wife's divorcing him.'
'What am I going to do, Jane?'
'Tell me exactly what happened.'
