Shona didn’t want to see her father in Tooting in case word got back to Parvez. She didn’t want him to know anything about the meeting. ‘No,’ she said firmly, ‘it’s really best if I come over to you. I know where it is, I’ve looked it up in the A-Z. I’ll see you soon, Papa. I’ll bring you some food from here, some samosas and things …’

Ricky, reverting back to Just Rashid, lost the will to argue and let Shona have her way. Looking round the flat more closely, he decided he really didn’t have too much to worry about. It was fortunate that he and Verity stayed here so little, he mainly used it as storage for his nonessential items, as Verity’s flat was so tiny it could only just about fit his clothes, toiletries and work things. He then remembered with a cold shudder that Verity had offered to come over with him that morning to keep him company, not wishing to lose the easy intimacy of their honeymoon. Thank goodness he had urged her to stay in bed and relax. Imagine how it would have been to answer the phone to Shona with his pregnant wife in the room, his two worlds colliding down the wire. He would have had no idea how to have dealt with it; perhaps if it were to happen, he could simply speak to Shona in Bangla, so Verity wouldn’t understand or suspect anything. But he never spoke Bangla to anyone, so that would seem suspicious in itself.