Ben Garvald lay on the bed smoking a cigarette and stared up at the ceiling. He’d had a lot of practice over the years, but this was different. Here, he could walk out any time he felt like it.

He wondered what Manton was doing about the copper and a grin touched the corners of his mouth. Now there was a problem, but on the other hand, no skin off his nose. He checked his watch. It was 1 a.m. and he frowned, trying to plan ahead.

If it was the sort of party he imagined it would be, it could run till morning. Certainly there was no point in trying to contact Bella before four or five by which time most of her guests would probably either be flat on their backs or in no fit state to know what was going on. He smiled, trying to imagine the look on her face when she first saw him.

There was a light knock on the door, it opened and the Irish girl came in with a cup and saucer in one hand. ‘I made some tea.’

‘I’ll remember you in my prayers.’

She gave him the tea and laughed as she looked down at him. ‘That’ll be the day.’

She went to the window and stood looking into the street. When he had finished his tea, she came back and sat on the edge of the bed.

‘Mind if I have a cigarette?’

‘Help yourself.’

She took one and he produced his lighter. When she leaned forward, the nylon overall opened to the waist. She was wearing a slip, no brassière and her breasts were white and firm. She held his wrist tightly as she lit her cigarette, looking straight into his eyes. Garvald slid his left hand inside the neck of the overall and cupped it over a breast, the nipple hardening immediately against his palm.

‘Aren’t you the one?’ she said softly.

He dropped the lighter, took the cigarette from her mouth and crushed it into the ashtray on the bedside table. ‘It’s been a long time,’ he said. ‘A hell of a long time. I’m warning you.’

Her arms went around his neck and he slid the overall down over her shoulders as their mouths came together. He was trembling, just like a kid having it for the first time, which was strange, and the light in the room seemed to grow dimmer.

She tumbled on to her back, her limbs asprawl, pulling him down into her softness, but his body seemed to have turned to water. For some reason he was on the floor and she was sitting on the edge of the bed staring down at him, the overall rucked up around her thighs, and her legs were the longest and most beautiful things he had ever seen.