‘It was, but I didn’t enjoy it last time. I’ve come to dislike this Scandinavian passion for raw fish. I’ll tell you what: book us a table at that Norwegian place Heinz took me to the other week, the one on Pilestræde. Make it for one thirty. And I’ll walk there. I need the exercise.’ He patted his stomach through his coat and winked at his secretary. ‘And one other thing, make sure the dairy people are gone by twelve fifteen. There’s only so long one can talk about cheese.’

That sorted, he went into his office and closed the door. With his coat still on, he unlocked his desk and opened one of the drawers. In an envelope under a pile of papers was a receipt, which he folded and placed in his wallet.

Only then did he remove his coat.

The receipt was for a bike. It gave him an excuse to be going to the bicycle shop off Pilestræde. He’d not yet collected a bike from there; each time he went, he was given a new receipt, so if anyone checked it would not seem too dated. He was a clever chap, that Jensen, the one who looked uncannily like Trotsky.

Dr Julius Oppenheim arrived at the bicycle shop after his morning surgery. He apologised profusely to Jensen.

‘I’m sorry, I’d hoped to be here earlier, but there are patients… you’ll understand, I hope… patients who only feel safe seeing me these days. There’s a fear that’s beginning to envelop us; people are becoming worried. So he’s woken up then?’

‘Finally, Dr Oppenheim, yes. Please come through.’

The doctor examined Prince carefully. He said little until Jensen left the room.

‘You’re lucky: this is early-stage typhus. Although it hit you quite hard, collapsing as you did was probably fortuitous. I’ve been able to treat you symptomatically, and I believe we’ve halted the progress of the disease. Had we not done so, it could soon have progressed to the next stage, with psychotic symptoms, and then you’d have been extremely unwell. I’d like to think the forty-eight-hour sleep stopped the illness in its tracks, and the important thing is that you’re now in a typhus-free environment. This medication here,’ he opened his case and took out a large brown bottle, ‘will help. Where did you catch the disease?’

Prince said nothing at first. ‘I was in Germany.’

‘You were in a camp, weren’t you? Jensen told me. Which one?’

‘Neuengamme, it’s near Hamburg.’

Dr Oppenheim leaned forward, a look of pain on his face. ‘Were there many Jews there?’

‘I’m not sure. I don’t think so. We heard rumours that there’d been Jews there earlier in the war, but most of them had been sent to camps in the east. There are rumours about those places…’