delights of new parenthood forever. When the auxiliary brought Lynn her evening meal, he'd got to his feet. "I should go back to Glasgow," he said. "I need to make sure He'd's OK."
"You don't have to take responsibility," Lynn protested.
"I know. But it was us she called," he reminded her. "Her own family's a long way away. She might need some help making the arrangements. Besides, I owe it to Mondo. I wasn't a very good friend to him in recent years, and I can't make up for that. But he was part of my life."
Lynn looked up at him with a sad smile, tears glistening in her eyes. "Poor Mondo. I keep thinking how frightened he must have been at the end. And to die without having any chance to make your peace with the people you love?As for He'd, I can't imagine what it must be like. When I think how I'd feel if anything happened to you or Davina?
"Nothing's going to happen to me. Or to Davina," Alex said. "I promise you."
He thought of that promise now as he covered the miles between joy and sorrow. It was hard not to feel overwhelmed by the turn his life had taken recently. But he couldn't afford to succumb. There was too much depending on him now.
As he approached Glasgow, he rang He'd. The answering machine redirected him to her mobile. Cursing, he pulled over and listened to the message again, noting down the number. She answered on the second ring. "Alex? How is Lynn? What's happened?"
He was surprised. He'd always considered He'd to be too obsessed by her own concerns to care about anyone other than herself and Mondo. That concern for Lynn and the baby had penetrated her grief to the point where it was the first thing she referred to astonished him. "We've got a daughter." They were the biggest words he'd ever uttered. He felt a lump in his throat. "With her being premature, they've got her in an incubator. But she's doing great. And she's beautiful."
"How is Lynn?"
"Hurting. In every sense. But she's OK. And you? How are you?"
"Not good. But I'm coping, I guess."
"Listen, I'm on my way to see you. Where are you?"
"The house is still a crime scene, apparently. I can't go back till tomorrow. I'm staying with my friend, Jackie. She lives in the Merchant City. Do you want to come here?"
Alex really didn't want to face the woman He'd had betrayed Mondo with. He thought about suggesting neutral ground, but it felt pretty heartless in the circumstances. "Give me directions," he said.
The flat was easy to find. It occupied half of the second floor of one of the converted warehouses that had become the residential badge of success for the city's singles. The woman who opened the door couldn't have looked less like He'd. Her jeans were old and faded with rips at the knees, her sleeveless T-shirt proclaimed she was 100% GRRRRL and revealed muscles that Alex reckoned could benchpress her own body-weight without breaking sweat. Just below each bicep was an intricate tattoo of a Celtic bracelet. Her short dark hair was spiked with gel and the look she gave him was every bit as barbed. Dark eyebrows were drawn down over pale blue-gray eyes and there was no welcoming smile on her wide mouth. "You must be Alex," she said, her Glasgow roots instantly obvious. "You'd better come in."
Alex followed her into exactly the kind of loft apartment that never graced the pages of interiors magazines. Forget sterile modernism, this was the den of someone who knew exactly what she liked and how she liked it. The end wall was floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, crammed untidily with books, videos, CDs and magazines. In front of it was a multigym, dumbbells lying carelessly to one side. The kitchen area had the kind of untidiness that comes with regular use, and the sitting area was furnished with sofas that owed more to comfort than elegance. A coffee table was invisible under stacks of newspapers and magazines. The walls were decorated with big framed photographs of sports-women, from Martina Navratilova to Ellen MacArthur.
He'd was curled in the corner of a tapestry sofa whose arms testified to the presence of a cat. He crossed the polished wood floor to his sister-in-law, who raised her face for their customary exchange of air kisses. Her eyes were puffy and shadowed, but other than that, He'd seemed back in command of herself. "I appreciate you