She tries to think back, but her brain is muddled and confused, her feelings too anxious and troubled to remember. The idea of someone spying on her like that, a hidden presence watchful of her movements, brings a shudder of fear. She remembers the journalist outside Anton’s front door, calling through his letterbox in a wheedling tone.

The thought crosses her mind: how did he find out?

‘This thing they’re implying about you and him – this love affair,’ Jake says, his voice snarling around the term. ‘Where did they get that impression?’

‘Oh, Jake, I don’t know,’ she says, wearily. ‘They made it up. Put two and two together and made seventeen.’

‘You have been seeing a lot of him,’ he tells her, in a voice made quiet by a new suspicion.

‘Because he’s been unwell. I felt sorry for him.’

‘Even though I told you I was unhappy about you spending time with him. Even though you knew I had my doubts.’

A challenge.

‘You don’t seriously believe what’s printed here? That I’m having some kind of a romance with him? Come on!’ Despite the gravity of the situation, the thought is so absurd she cannot help but poke fun at it.

‘Do you think it’s funny?’ he snaps. ‘This isn’t some little domestic tiff between you and me. It’s printed in the fucking paper! Everyone can read it! My parents will probably see it. Jesus Christ, my ex has read it. How am I supposed to square it with her?’

‘You’ll talk to her,’ she says calmly. ‘Explain that all of this has been taken out of context, misrepresented. These are lies – deliberate falsehoods.’

But Jake doesn’t appear to be listening. He’s over in the kitchen now, plucking an apple from the fruit bowl, then putting it back and pacing to the sink. He’s like a wind-up toy ready to rattle off in a new direction. His agitation scares her a little.

‘Bad enough that I kept it from Jenna about Anton. That our landlord who lives right above us, with whom we share a garden, has a criminal record. I didn’t tell her because I thought there would be no point in worrying her. That we wouldn’t be staying here all that long, probably, just until things improved and we could move somewhere else. And I figured that Matthew would never be left on his own here, anyway, because either you or I would be on hand to keep an eye on him. But how the fuck am I going to explain away both of these things, Leah? Not just about Anton, but about you?’ His voice cracks, and she can see that he is close to tears. ‘Why didn’t you tell me? Why?’