AIDAN. And she’s got a boyfriend, with whom, I’m sorry to, but with whom I think we can take it as read she is having a, well, a sexual relationship?

BRADSHAW.…

AIDAN. Okay, and that boyfriend has taken photographs of her, and sent them to us, on the premise, the deceptive premise that she is eighteen. That those breasts were the breasts of a legal adult.

BRADSHAW.…

AIDAN. And to be honest, there was probably a moment, wasn’t there, when your eyes went over this photograph and for a minute –

BRADSHAW. No.

AIDAN. No, come on, let’s, in the spirit of – there would have been a moment, before you saw the face, before you, recognised the face and the feelings became more complicated, there would have been a moment where your feelings about this picture were in fact, very simple, because you’re looking at this picture and what you’re experiencing is –

BRADSHAW. No.

AIDAN. Very simply, very purely, an aesthetic experience of, what?

BRADSHAW. I didn’t look.

AIDAN. Of very simply, very purely, a beautiful pair of firm, young breasts.

BRADSHAW. I didn’t see.

AIDAN. I’m sorry, Mr Bradshaw, but that’s a bit, I find that quite confusing because if you didn’t look at the picture, in the magazine that you bought, how did you come to make the phone call and be sitting here?

BRADSHAW. A friend.

AIDAN. A friend.

BRADSHAW. That’s right.

AIDAN. A friend recognised her.

BRADSHAW. Yes.

AIDAN. Good friend?

BRADSHAW. Yes.

AIDAN. Old friend?

BRADSHAW. Yes.

AIDAN. Recognised her… face, did he?

,

BRADSHAW. I’m not being funny, son, but you want to watch your fucking mouth.

,

AIDAN. I’m so sorry, Mr Bradshaw. That was callous of me. I was only trying to prove a point, I went too far, I should have known. I’m a father. I’ve got a daughter. Like you, Isobel, she’s fifteen. See. She plays the flute.

He shows MR BRADSHAW the framed photo on his desk. It’s of a teenage girl in a garden. Looks at it himself, fondly.

God knows how I’d feel if I was in your position right now. If… Isobel was, doing that sort of – doesn’t bear thinking about. The idea that I just hadn’t noticed that my fourteen-year-old child was having a sexual relationship under my nose.

BRADSHAW. You can’t watch them the whole time, can you?

AIDAN. I’ll be honest with you, it would break me. It would actually break me. Is that how you feel?

BRADSHAW. Yes.

AIDAN. Of course you do. You feel broken. At the idea that these pictures even existed. If I’m honest, I think that’s what’s really upset you here. The idea of another man’s hands all over your little girl’s body. Right under your nose. Am I right?

BRADSHAW. This isn’t the issue.