He’d opened his eyes when I screamed, and now he giggled as he sat up slowly. From his rubbery movements it was clear he was horribly drunk, his head waggling on his thin neck as he looked at me, his usually protuberant grey eyes rather squinty. He giggled again.

‘Hello, Maggie. You know,’ he spoke very precisely, his face draining of colour as he did, ‘you know, you really shouldn’t have ignored me the way you did. It’s a sin.’

Then he turned, almost in slow motion, and threw up on my pillow.

I didn’t know what to do, so I called the police and an ambulance, who came and removed him. Joseph was so drunk I couldn’t talk to him or ask him how he’d got there or why, and for the first time in weeks I found I actually craved the distraction of work. I wanted to get back to the office, to people. I saw an incoherent Joseph escorted into the back of the ambulance with a uniformed WPC for company, and then the locksmith finished up and gave me my new keys and I left, feeling utterly bewildered.

DI Fox called a few hours later.

‘We’ve arrested Blake,’ he said bluntly, and my stomach lurched.

‘Why?’ I asked numbly.

‘Maggie,’ the policeman sounded tired, ‘I thought you’d be pleased we’ve caught your stalker.’

‘My stalker?’ The words sounded so strange. Other people got stalked: famous, important people. Not me. ‘My stalker,’ I repeated.

‘Are you all right, mate?’ Fox asked.

‘I suppose so.’ I didn’t really know any more. ‘How did he get into the flat?’

‘He had a set of keys.’

‘Keys?’ All these bloody keys; I was haunted by them. I saw them dancing down the hall in ever-multiplying sets – a technicolor Nightmare of the Keys.

‘He said you gave them to him.’

‘Well I didn’t.’

‘Right.’

‘I didn’t,’ I said indignantly. If one more person said I’d done something I knew I hadn’t –

‘No, well, I assumed as much, though he’s quite a convincing kid. Has he had access to your keys recently? Could he have had his own set cut?’

I thought about the missing Filofax, safely returned; about Donna’s book. ‘I suppose he must have done.’

‘Did you know he has a record for harassment?’

‘No.’ I was shocked. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Sure I’m sure. Some kid he went to university with. He wouldn’t leave her alone, apparently. She pressed charges but he was lucky; got off with a caution in the end. It’s hard to make these bloody cases stick sometimes.’

‘Right.’ I cleared my throat. ‘Did you ask him what – what exactly he was doing in the flat?’

‘He says he was waiting to talk to you.’

‘Oh God. Poor boy.’

‘I must say, Maggie, you’re taking this very well.’