‘You’re not the first or last woman to do that.’ I know better than anyone how good Zac is at hiding his past. Did she find those articles because he meant her to, or is she playing with me, knowing full well that Zac’s supposedly dead ex-girlfriend is sitting in her kitchen? I am in a state of profound uncertainty.

‘Have you?’

‘Oh yes. With every man I’ve ever lived with.’ Never mind that Zac is the only one.

She laughs. ‘Good to know I’m not alone.’ She takes a huge breath, then swallows. ‘Zac is a wonderful husband. And he’s amazing with Alice. I’m – tired today. Alice was up again most of last night. She hasn’t been sleeping well lately.’

‘Poor Alice. And poor you. Hopefully the iron will help her feel better, so you’ll both get more sleep.’

‘I’m sure it will. Plus, she’s especially unsettled when Zac’s away – I think she misses him tucking her in.’

‘That’s sweet.’ I feel as if a knife has twisted in my heart. ‘What does Zac do? I meant to ask.’

‘Ah. He’s a doctor. Cardiology. He’s not practising right now. Something went wrong. Honestly, he was in a kind of post-traumatic stress when he and I first got together.’ She’s giving me so much of the truth I am veering towards thinking she is sincere – that she can’t be playing some manipulative game. ‘These days, he offers himself as an expert witness in cases of clinical negligence. Basically, he advocates for patients. He’s on a kind of mission.’

‘It sounds as if he wants to do as much good as he can.’ I remember Zac’s intercalated BSc was in Medical Ethics and Law.

‘He hates oppression, hates it when powerful people do wrong and get to cover it up. The reason he’s in Edinburgh is to advise on a case. He works so hard. But do you know, he did the grocery shopping for me and Alice before he left? That’s how kind he is – he knew I was tired.’

Positively heroic to buy sprouts and milk, I think, imagining him popping along to my flat to deposit the dead robin before he trundled off to the supermarket and the airport.

‘This poor woman in Edinburgh . . .’ Eliza tops up my coffee. ‘They missed all the signs of her skin cancer. It’s criminal.’

‘That’s awful.’

‘Zac won’t let them get away with it. He’ll expose them. Do you know, pretty much all of the competency reviews in hospitals are cover-ups. Internal stitch-ups. Zac always says, “If a plane crashes, you don’t get the pilot to conduct the investigation.”’

‘If a plane crashes, isn’t it rare for the pilot to be around to do that?!’

‘Yes, but you get my point.’ She tops up her own coffee too. ‘External scrutiny is crucial, don’t you think?’