He turned. Standing there was a short seventyish man with a wrinkled-monkey face. He was smartly dressed, prosperous-looking, with a tan and a shiny bald dome of a head.

Josh had hoped never to see him again. But here he was: Dave Houghton. With less hair and more lines on his face. Instantly into Josh’s mind came the image of Andrew Meredith falling back with his brains spraying out in a crimson fountain. He swallowed hard as bile rose in his throat, and held out a hand. Dave shook it.

‘How are you, Josh? Christ, you look bloody well,’ said Dave with a smile.

‘How are you, Dave?’

‘Nowhere near as good as you. What you on, fuckin’ hormones or something?’ Dave patted Josh’s washboard stomach. ‘Still keeping up the fitness malarkey then?’

‘Sort of,’ said Josh. Yes, he was still fit, and finding Claire again had knocked years off him. He felt like a twenty-year-old when he was with her. Then he came back to England, saw Shauna, and felt a hundred.

‘How’s the family? How’s that lovely Shauna?’ asked Dave. ‘What’ll you have, Josh?’

‘No, I’m fine,’ said Josh. He didn’t want to linger here chatting to Dave. It brought it all back, and he didn’t want that. ‘Shaun’s great,’ he lied.

‘And your kid? Boy, wasn’t it?’

‘That’s right. And a girl too. Yours?’

‘Both doing fine. Married now, the eldest is coming to lunch in a mo, you want to join in, you’re welcome.’

‘No, thanks, got things to do,’ said Josh quickly. ‘How’s Philippa?’ He’d hated the woman, thought she was a high-toned bitch, Shauna had been right about that. Took one to know one, he supposed. But he had to be polite.

‘Oh.’ Dave’s face fell. ‘Poor old Phil.’

Josh stared at the man. ‘What?’

‘Well, she died,’ said Dave.

Josh froze in surprise. ‘She what? But she was no age at all. What happened?’

‘It was tragic.’ Dave’s voice was suddenly choked with emotion. ‘Bloody awful, I’m telling you. I went out to work and came home and the house was empty. Kids away at school, Phil would always be home cookin’ the evening meal. Well, opening a bloody packet and shoving it in the microwave, anyway. Hopeless in the kitchen she was, really. But there was nobody there.’

‘So . . .’ prompted Josh.

‘I searched the place from top to bottom. Nothing. Then I went out in the garden and had a look all around. Still nothing. So I goes down by the river and looks there. You know how slippery the banks are, we were always warning the kids about not playing too near. And that’s where I found her.’

‘What, in the river?’ Josh felt his stomach gripped by something. Maybe fear. He was Josh ‘Fearless’ Flynn, but yes, all at once he felt frightened. Like someone had just walked over his grave.