‘Amy, please, can we just enjoy dinner? We’ll talk about this tomorrow.’ He took another sip of wine, enjoying the warm, fruity flavour that trickled down his throat.

‘Sure.’ She threw her cutlery down on the table. ‘You decide. You call all the shots. I’ll just sit here like the little wife and never open my mouth.’ Her face was flushed and Johnny knew there was no escaping an argument now. Rubbing his face with his hands he let out a long sigh.

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ She got to her feet, the tears welling in her eyes. ‘You just seem to think that everything is the same, but it isn’t. You cheated on me. I can’t just forget that.’

‘I told you, it was a one-night-stand. I’ve admitted it, and I’ve said I’m sorry until I’m blue in the face. What more do you want? What else can I do?’

‘I think you’ve done enough already.’ She patted her bump, soothing the child growing inside her, which was beginning to kick her ribs. The child could sense her upset, she knew it.

‘Come on, babe, just sit down and finish this lovely steak.’

‘I’ve lost my appetite,’ she said – and she had. ‘I’m going upstairs to have a shower. You can clean up this mess.’ Amy left the room wondering if the real mess could ever really be cleared up at all.

14

5.50am 25 June

As was usual at that time of year, Midsummer Common had been host to the Midsummer Fair, in which hordes of travellers in caravans descended and set up stalls to sell their wares. The city had been subjected to an exhausting weekend and fireworks, set off by various universities, had echoed around the sky late into the night.

A group of late-night revellers were returning home, still dressed in the clothes they had been wearing the night before, and stumbled, worse for wear, along the path that followed the river towards Magdalene Bridge. The young men, some of whom were still sipping from beer cans, joked and laughed about the night’s activities, followed sheepishly by young women whose make-up had made its way down their faces. Dressed in their weekend best, the girls tottered along in their heels, trying to keep up, while their feet throbbed.

On the river, a few ducks and a pair of swans were gliding elegantly upstream, unaware of the gaggle walking alongside them.

As the group got closer to the bridge, one of the young women noticed something in the water, wedged between two punts. As she stopped walking and took a few steps closer, she lost her footing on the riverbank and ended up on her bottom. The grass was wet with dew and her bare legs did not approve of the sensation. Laughing, one of the men extended a hand to help her up.

‘What’s that?’ She pointed with her chipped, red painted nail.