As she walked out she saw Will had sent several texts, clicked open the first.

I’ve seen the video. You need to get back here. Now.

Lena turned off her phone. Josh was where she’d left him in the booth. He looked up with an expression she could only describe as fatally thirsty. Made her feel like a cockroach was scurrying up her spine.

‘This is a hotel, yeah?’

‘Yeah.’ Up out of his seat, moving towards her.

Josh apologised that the room was corporate and bland. Lena’s word would be immaculate. She touched the smooth stone bench to the right of the door—empty except for a sparkling stainless-steel kettle and a glossy white dish filled with individually wrapped teabags. She touched the dust-free top of the big-screen TV, then the slippery, flawless ceramic of the lamp on the desk, and then the black leather folder with For Your Convenience embossed in gold on the cover, then the desk itself. A light touch, skimming past with her bare fingertips. Touch by touch the rope inside her uncoiled.

She headed for the bathroom, wanting to press her hands against the un-smeared tiles with no mould in the grout, run her fingers over the hairless drains. But Josh was a step behind her, his breath on the back of her neck. Do ya take me for a pirate? Dad would’ve said. Bloody big parrot on my shoulder.

She turned, tried to look at his face instead of the crisp white sheets on the queen-size bed.

‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘You do what you need to do.’

A lurch in her chest. How did he know the filth she had come from? But then he held up his phone and said, ‘It’s off. Look. You keep it until we leave.’ She took his black, dead phone, realised she should have asked for it immediately, should have been doing what he assumed and checking the room for hidden cameras. She really was asking for it. Dumb cunt.

‘Thanks.’ She made a show of double-checking his phone was off, shoved it in her backpack and continued her circuit of the room. Part of her wanted to ask him what it felt like to be the kind of person other people needed to check for spy equipment before they could relax around. Another part of her wanted to jump out of the streak-free window because what kind of a person hooks up with the kind of man you need to check for spy equipment? The biggest part—right now, anyway—wanted to scrub herself raw in a clean shower then climb into a clean bed, have a fast orgasm with a clean man, shower again and sleep through the whole night without waking to cough up dust.