There was no way to reassure her, and he found her questions grating. As soon as he could he removed himself from the house. He spent an enjoyable New Year with Julius and his girlfriend Susan. They holed up in a cottage in the Welsh countryside that belonged to Julius’s parents. Paul was fond of the place, as it was where he and Julius had crammed for their finals in their last year at Cambridge. Susan regaled them with stories of working for Russia Today, the state-owned English TV station. ‘We cover anything to do with dead Romanovs, basically. There are always calls to dig them up to test some theory or other.’ They played Monopoly and Susan was gleeful when she won, grinding on Julius while singing, ‘I’m rich, I’m rich, I’m rich!’

Another night, they played cards, and Julius told them a Russian joke. ‘A bear, a wolf and a vixen are playing cards. The wolf is shuffling and he warns, “No cheating! If anyone is cheating, her smug red furry face is going to hurt.”’ He looked pointedly at Susan.

Susan laughed and protested, ‘I insist you take that back. I’ve never cheated in my life!’

‘Spoken like a woman.’

Paul felt his own face burning, but neither of them noticed and the moment passed.

He returned to the deep cold of Moscow. He expected to find tension. What if Nikolai had found out? Or what if he looked at him and knew? Instead, he got back to find his employers were still away. He occupied himself by going to the gym, cooking, watching TV. In the third week of January, he caught one of Susan’s segments on Russia Today. She was covering the custom of Epiphany ice-swimming, in which the faithful dunked themselves in a hole in a frozen lake. Susan took part herself, in a black Speedo swimsuit (modestly cut, but still showing a lot of side-boob). In a later shot, wearing a polar fleece, she said, ‘That’s certainly one way to ring in the New Year.’ And Paul, suddenly lonely, retrieved Angelica’s number, Angelica with a zh. He sent her a message, and another when she replied, and after that he started seeing her often.