I open the message purporting to be from Luke, type the word ‘Test’ in the reply box and press send. Immediately, there’s a buzz from the table and all eyes swivel to Luke’s coat.

‘Did anyone else hear that, or was it just me?’ I ask carefully. ‘Only asking because I do have an overactive imagination, as you know.’

Luke makes a grab for the coat, but Cindy is too quick for him. After a brief rummage through the pockets, she pulls out another phone. Unlike the one that Luke was waving around earlier, which is a large, state-of-the-art smartphone, this is an old-fashioned push-button affair with a liquid crystal screen.

‘What’s the unlock code?’ she demands, her voice pure venom again.

‘How should I know?’ Luke retorts. ‘I’ve never seen that phone before. She probably planted it on me. Yes, that’s it. She slipped it into my pocket when she arrived, to incriminate me.’

‘Nice try, but Tilly was already here when you arrived, and she hasn’t left this room since.’

‘She must have done it at work then.’

‘I think you’d have noticed a strange phone suddenly appearing in your coat pocket.’

‘Not necessarily. It hasn’t been that cold, so I haven’t needed to put my hands in there.’

Cindy lowers her eyes to the phone and starts typing in various four-digit combinations.

‘I’m in,’ she announces after a few goes. ‘So, before we go any further, let me just be quite clear on what you’ve said, Luke. You and Tilly are work colleagues, and anything more than that is delusion on her part. You definitely haven’t gone and bought a tacky burner phone so that you can keep your sordid affair a secret from your wife, you know, the wife you promised never to cheat on again. The wife who’s expecting your baby. You haven’t done those things, because you’ve learned your lesson, turned over a new leaf and all that jazz. That’s what I heard, anyway. Tilly?’

‘Yes,’ I agree.

‘So, Luke. I just have two questions. One, do you agree that the unlock code being your mother’s birthday is one hell of a coincidence, and two, is there anything you want to tell me before I start looking through the messages on here?’

Luke’s shoulders finally sag in defeat and part of me wants to punch the air in triumph. But, to my amazement, he’s not done yet.

‘Fine,’ he sighs. ‘But you have to understand that what happened between me and Tilly didn’t mean anything, Cind.’

‘You fucked her. That’s pretty bloody meaningful.’

‘I admit I slept with her. But that was all it was, sex. You haven’t really been in the mood since you got pregnant, so what was I supposed to do?’