‘I don’t know . . . She . . . she looked a bit like me, I guess. A tad taller, though.’ He waited for more. ‘And she was funny, without knowing it . . . always getting her words mixed up or saying daft things. She was much prettier than me. Not that she thought so . . . not since . . . not for some time. But you know . . . she was fun. We laughed a lot. When she wasn’t sad. Or drunk.’

It was strange how soothed I was. It dawned on me that I never talked about her. Only repetitive thoughts. No one even knew her. Or cared. I’d tried to avoid it all so much she was almost a figment. A ghost I’d become afraid of. But she was my mum. My mum.

‘She sounds like someone I’d have liked to have met.’

As I smiled, I caught sight of the clock. I’d only been in there fifteen minutes. My leg pulsed again. Up, down, up, down. It concerned me that if I stayed any longer, my guard might drop too much.

He returned to making notes in his pad. I felt more comfortable with it this time. Almost curious. Until he said, ‘Why was she sad?’

‘What?’

‘You said she was fun when she wasn’t drunk or sad. What do you think made her sad?’

I shrugged. ‘I suppose some people just are, aren’t they?’

He paused and looked up at me with his hooded eyes. Again waited without a flicker.

‘I don’t know . . . She just was. That’s all . . . since Dad. Even when she wasn’t, it was only a window. I’d lose her again at any moment.’

‘Since Dad?’

‘Sorry, Dr Franco. I . . . I realize I didn’t bring any lunch . . . Sorry. I need to get a sandwich or I’ll have to go all day without eating.’

‘Oh . . . that’s a shame. But just stay a couple more minutes if you can. Tell me, why was your mum sad about your dad? Did they divorce?’

I dropped my head and clenched my teeth. ‘No.’

‘Oh no . . . Did he pass away too? Did something happen to him?’

I was wrong. It wasn’t comforting at all. I didn’t like it. Loathed the way he rummaged inside me, regardless of how good it felt to bring her back. My hands pushed down into the plush hide of the chair to help me stand.

‘I don’t know what happened to him, all right. We never did.’

London. A city …