‘How lovely.’ Her voice is pure honey. ‘I’m a doctor myself, although most of my work is in field hospitals in the middle of war zones. There’s nothing like being on the front line of life and death to stir your libido. Some of the most passionate encounters I’ve had have been in the strangest places. There was this one time, in fact, where we were in a Land Rover, heading for a village, when we were attacked. We had to run and hide in some caves until nightfall. I was with this guy, Benjamin. Probably twenty years younger than me and terrified; it was his first time being shot at, you know? Anyway, he was a bit shaken up, so I put my arm around him to reassure him and it certainly woke the beast in him. We had an extremely happy few weeks together.’

‘What happened?’ Luke asks.

‘Oh, he was careless and ended up getting shot in the leg and invalided home. It happens. Nice boy though.’

‘And you didn’t try to keep in contact?’

‘No. What happens in the field stays in the field. It’s best for everyone that way. Some of these people are married. They’re not looking to wreck their relationships, it’s just a release in a hostile environment. The fewer people who know, the better.’

‘Was Benjamin married? Are you?’

She laughs dryly. ‘Good Lord, no. But it still wouldn’t translate. Take away the jeopardy and I’m just a forty-something woman and he’s a twenty-something baby. You need the danger to provide the glue.’

‘I get that, I guess,’ Luke tells her. ‘Do you think the spouses suspect anything when the married ones come home?’

Another rasping laugh. I wonder if Lena’s taken up smoking since I saw her last. ‘How should I know?’ she asks. ‘That’s their shit to manage, not mine. The way I see it is this: life out there is short and often brutal. We see things nobody wants to see, deal with all the shit the world doesn’t want to look at. If we take pleasure in each other’s company while we do it, who the hell is in a position to lecture us? Before you judge me, walk a mile in my shoes. Isn’t that what Jesus said, Tilly? Tilly went to Catholic school so she’s an expert on the Bible.’

‘I don’t think it was Jesus,’ I tell her. ‘We always used to say, “Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you judge them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.”’

‘Very funny. I’ll remember that.’