‘That was fascinating,’ she said, and stuck out her hand. ‘I’m Jessica Bradford.’

‘Thanks,’ Grant said, giving her hand a brief shake.

Grant looked across the room. It was now empty except for him, Jessica and another female student who was at the far end, at the top of the stairs, propping open the exit door and looking down at Jessica impatiently. Her friend, he realised.

‘Criminology is a subject that’s always interested me,’ Jessica said. ‘Though I guess it’s not an easy subject to get into.’

She said it almost apologetically, as though it was her fault that most of her fellow students were idiots.

‘I think a lot of your friends are going to find that out the hard way.’

‘I don’t think it helps that the class is so early on a Monday morning. I think you drew the short straw there.’

‘I’ve been doing this for a few years,’ Grant said. ‘Believe me, when you’re lecturing first year undergraduates there’s never really a good time. At least half of the students are always asleep or deeply distracted, picking their noses. I count myself lucky to be teaching something that’s at least vaguely interesting and accessible. I pity the maths tutors.’

Jessica gave a little laugh and looked coyly down at her feet. Grant smiled and looked back up to Jessica’s friend who rolled her eyes at her friend’s awkward performance. Grant felt like he was about to be asked to dinner or something. In fact, he was terrified of being put in a compromising situation, or even an innocent situation which could be even remotely construed as compromising.

Why was that his immediate thought?

‘I was hoping you could sign this for me,’ Jessica said, taking a paperback from her book bag.

Grant looked at the book. The edges were frayed, the front cover bent, the pages yellowed. The book was not just a few years old but well used. Grant smiled again, with genuine surprise and warmth, when he realised what it was.

He looked at his own name, then at the title; The Essence of Evil.

‘Where on earth did you find that?’ he asked.

‘I’ve had it for years. I told you, I’ve always had an interest in the subject. I don’t know why.’

Grant took the book from her hands and quickly leafed through it. He’d not had one of his students bring him a copy in years. He noticed that she’d used pencil to underline sentences and circle whole sections on many of the pages. This wasn’t just an interesting read for her, but a learning tool. Grant was impressed. Perhaps there was hope after all.