Nearer, I see that his suit has a slightly shiny quality and I wonder if this is because it is cheap or expensive. I assume the former, as it is also ill-fitting, loose at the hips, the jacket fulsome – either that or he’s lost a lot of weight recently. He looks like he is average height, fair hair cut quite short, well, a mix of fair and brown, dark eyes, nose with a bump in it, quite large but not in an ugly way. Something hawklike in his features, perhaps, or maybe that’s the impression I have because he is so still. In many ways he’s rather nondescript – if you hurried by him in the street you would scarcely notice him – but as he is stationary and I have the luxury of being invisible, his appearance rewards more detailed analysis. And let’s face it, I don’t have much else to do. After a moment or two, I work it out: it’s the fair hair and dark eyes, or rather, it’s the combination. It works in the same way that black hair and blue eyes work, that arresting moment when you have to pause and look for longer than is polite in order to work out what is unusual. The fair streaks in his hair are very light, although not blond, and his eyes are quite small and very dark brown, almost black. They are the kind of eyes that always look as though they are gazing at the middle distance.

I wonder what he’s called. Caleb, I decide. I don’t know why, something so old-fashioned that it’s really current seems to suit him; something Biblical, with a consonant at the end. As I gaze at him, I name him, as if he is mine to name.

The cup of coffee cools in front of him – he continues to stare straight ahead – then all at once it is as if his gaze comes into focus and he sees the other people hurrying through the entrance hall. He sits up a little straighter, as though he has made a decision.

He puts his left hand into his jacket pocket and extracts a phone. He presses a few buttons and holds it up to his ear, pursing his lips while he waits for an answer, then says into the phone, ‘Hi, it’s me, did you get my email?’ He speaks quite softly. I have to go up close to hear.

After a short pause, he gives a melodramatic sniff.

‘Yeah, right stinker, yeah …’ He makes a small huffing sound to indicate amusement, less than a laugh. ‘Yeah … yeah … thought so, better than giving it to the whole building, right.’

Oh, I think, he’s lying. That’s interesting.