‘Well, yes. That’s why I remember it so well. It was nine o’clock in the evening. I’d come along to tuck him in, keep him company for a while. I’d managed to scavenge half a pizza which some lout had left on a wall outside an Italian takeaway. A whole half-pizza. I’d already distributed some of it, and there were only a couple of pieces left. I’d made an effort to save one for Fred, though. He’s skin and bone, these days, the poor man. Not that this has tamed his lusty conversation. Oh, dear me, no … some of his comments would even shock a police officer—’

‘I’m sure,’ Lucy cut in. ‘Just tell me what happened.’

The ex-nun pursed her lips. ‘On this occasion, it was a little too much. Especially after I’d saved him a whole slice of pizza. I told him that I was offended. I gave him the whole flask of tea I’d intended to share with him but said that I wasn’t staying with him a moment longer. I was halfway down this path here …’

She moved further along the arcade, coming to a point where a hole had been kicked in the remaining scorched planking. On the other side, rough ground sloped up to the edge of the concrete. A well-trodden footpath snaked down it, cutting through dense weeds near the bottom, before joining another derelict cobbled access road.

‘That’s Canning Crescent down there, I believe,’ the ex-nun said. ‘Or it used to be. Such a shame. When I was teaching—’

‘What happened to Fred?’ Lucy interrupted.

‘Why, he became remorseful. Very much so. He followed me down, limping of course. His poor feet are terribly infected and inflamed. I often change the bandages for him. Sometimes, I can acquire clean ones at the needle exchange on Saddler’s Row.’

‘Sister, please …’

‘Well … when we got down to the bottom here –’ she descended the path, Lucy in her wake ‘– when he caught up with me, which was just about here, this spot, he told me he was sorry. That he hadn’t meant to insult me, and that if it made any difference, the next time I came he would have tried to scrape some money together.’ She tutted again. ‘That was his idea of an apology. He thought that if he offered to buy my favours, I’d somehow be placated. The sad state of these men …’

‘Okay, and …?’