‘Don’t be a wimp.’ She playfully punched me in the ribs. ‘Come to the park; it’s just round the corner. I’ve been wanting to meet you.’

So I got on the back of Johanna’s bike and we sped off, my arms around her sturdy midriff. A moment later we dismounted at a small playground. It was deserted, as playgrounds always are unless they’re in a TV drama. Nitrous oxide capsules were littered around the swings. Johanna pulled off her helmet and flung herself down on the grass.

‘Look at that sky!’ she said. ‘The freedom, oh, the freedom! The swallows have gone, bless them.’ She clicked her fingers. ‘Just like that, just like me. We’re all off to better climes. Wow, the relief!’

I removed some KFC boxes and lay down beside her. She turned towards me, her leathers creaking.

‘So you’re Calvin’s woman.’

‘Well, sort of …’

‘Did he tell you about shovelling the sand, and pushing the car off the cliff?’

I nodded.

‘Lies, all lies,’ Johanna said. ‘His family was quite wealthy. His father was a civil servant and it was a perfectly happy childhood.’

‘And his mother wasn’t blind?’

‘Of course not.’

‘How do you know?’

‘His sister came to England for a visit. She and I smoked some weed together.’

‘Did he work as a paramedic?’

‘Christ, no. He got into some financial scandal and fled to England. It’s only then that he learned to fly.’

I realised that none of this surprised me. In fact it was something of a relief. My feelings for Calvin had been numbed; one day they might come tingling back to life, like my gums after the dentist’s jab, but I doubted it.

‘Did he know?’ I asked. ‘That you knew he lied?’

Johanna shook her head. ‘I played along with it.’ She shrugged. ‘In fact, it gave me a sense of power.’

‘It didn’t stop you loving him?’ Loving. The word jolted me to my senses. This woman had betrayed me, month after month. Why was I being so friendly?

‘I’m sorry.’ Johanna laid her hand on my arm. ‘I know what you’re thinking and I apologise. To Doug and to Angie. And to you, of course. I didn’t feel too great about it either, to be honest.’

‘I should think not.’

‘Did it stop me loving him?’ She rolled over onto her back and gazed at the sky. ‘He and I were like peas in a pod. It’s hard to describe. People talk about soulmates but it was deeper than that. Back in Utrecht I did some work with twins, and that’s the nearest I can describe it. My lost twin. As if we’d shared a womb, as if we knew what each other was thinking before they’d spoken. In fact, we’d forget who said it. Oh, it’s hard to describe.’