‘I put her in a taxi. Now, will you come with me or not?’ He didn’t wait for her answer. He just took her wrist and pulled her along the road to where his car was parked askew across a double yellow line.

Thea had about two minutes to decide whether or not to go with him. It took her five seconds. When he unlocked the car door for her she got in. Just being away from all the noise and activity seemed sufficient reward for being so passive. Now she’d been taken from all the heat and hubbub, going back would seem like re-entering hell.

He drove up and out of the town to a valley Thea didn’t know. She stared out of the window at the beauty of the summer darkness. The moon had risen, bathing everything with light, casting strange shadows. The trees stood out against the sky. The hills took on the shapes of enormous mythic beasts and honeysuckle-scented hedges were dotted with bindweed flowers, strangely white. It was the kind of night when maidens of old performed strange rituals and laid their linen smocks on the grass to bleach in the moonlight. She didn’t let herself think about where she was going or why, she just hoped the drive would go on for ever. At the moment it was perfect: she didn’t have to speak and she was with Ben. The minute they had to talk they’d start misunderstanding and fighting with each other again.

He took his car down a drive to where a house sat silhouetted in the twilight. There were no lights on and it looked empty. Roses, in dire need of pruning, grew almost across a leaning wooden porch. A ‘For Sale’ sign, with an ‘s.s.t.c’ band stuck across it, stood by the front gate.

Ben stopped the car and got out. Then he walked round and opened her door. ‘Come on.’ He lifted open the gate for her to go through.

Reluctant as she was to spoil it all by opening her mouth, she had to protest. ‘Ben, we can’t call on people at this time of night. Not when I don’t know them and they’ve only just moved in. Or are they about to move out?’

He didn’t answer; he just manoeuvred her up the path to the front door. They were standing very close together and she was intensely aware of his physical presence. She was only wearing a pair of briefs underneath her dress and she yearned for him to catch her mood and take her in his arms. He didn’t. He held back the roses, so she wouldn’t get scratched, then produced some keys and unlocked the door. ‘There.’

She stepped past him, away from his disturbing nearness, and looked about her.