‘Yeah. Now that I know he’s there I have to.’

‘We’re going to do this,’ I said. ‘It’s so bizarre that what’s unusual isn’t your glitch, but us. The two of us.’

I liked that. I liked the way it sounded. Us. We were the thing that was unique in the universe. I looked at Joe and I knew it was true. Also, he said that Lara had called me a ghost detective, and I liked that too. It was my secret identity. Who wouldn’t want to be a ghost detective?

‘So I need to be your detective,’ I said, ‘and try harder to sort everything out. I’ve written it all up on a big chart and made a map. I’ll see if I can get anywhere with Lara as well, if you want, but I’m going to focus on you, right?’

‘Right,’ he said.

We had a lot of work to do if I was actually going to solve this, but there wasn’t enough time to talk it through. Instead, remembering the stab of jealousy that the idea of a female ghost had given me, I said, ‘When you were alive, did you have a girlfriend? Apart from your crush on Jemima, I mean?’

Joe smiled and I could see that meeting Lara had given him such a boost that this question didn’t even upset him.

‘No,’ he said. ‘But I had lots of offers.’ He gave me such a sleazy look that we both burst out laughing. ‘Actually I was picky,’ he said. ‘If I’d known how little time I had I’d have loosened up. I fancied girls and boys, but only a few of them, and not the people you’d think. I mean …’ He stopped and looked a bit embarrassed. ‘I’m probably allowed to show off a bit right now?’

‘Be my guest.’

‘I was quite fit. I got … interest. I had friends and I was sporty. Gus was jealous because I could get on with people and he couldn’t.’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I was a bit like that too. Before Mum. Like you, I mean. Not Gus.’

‘You are! I can totally see it. We’re alike. Maybe that’s why we can meet. I don’t know. So I had a mad crush on Jemima when I was thirteen. You know that. She turned me down, but in a really kind way. She was fourteen. No way was she going out with some kid.’

‘And now she has children and an Etsy shop.’

There was a pause during which I watched him deciding not to ask what an Etsy shop was.