The Torso in the Town. Simon Brett

her badly.’

      ‘Didn’t I?’

      ‘No. It just didn’t work out between you, that’s all. You were looking for different things.’

      ‘You can say that again.’ Ted Crisp wearily ran a hand through the foliage of his beard. ‘Carole . . .’ There, he’d managed to say it. ‘Carole kept wanting to define everything. Where were we going? What was the nature of our relationship?’ He let out a defeated sigh. ‘Why is it that men think in terms of enjoying things right now and are never in any hurry to see what happens next, whereas women are always thinking in terms of bloody relationships?’

      ‘That’s been one of the great gender issues since time began,’ said Jude.