Even if Nick had wanted to dislike Miranda for April’s sake, it wouldn’t have been easy. She had a ready laugh and a self-deprecating twinkle in her gaze. She seemed genuinely interested in what he’d done with his life and was disarmingly frank about what she’d done with hers: early marriage and divorce – from an Italian, which explained her fluency when ordering from the menu – single motherhood, politics – with more than a hint that she’d backed whatever policies were calculated to advance her career – and now part-time participation in the House of Lords, leaving her a lot of free time in which to enjoy herself, which Nick had the impression she was adept at doing.

When he showed her a few of his paintings on his phone, she noted the stylistic resemblance to Morandi. This only confirmed him in the belief that she was hiding a wide-ranging intelligence behind a frivolous façade, heightening his interest in what she had to say about the Exeter household she’d been a part of in her student days.

‘It was a long time ago,’ she began, as a third glass of wine lubricated her memory. ‘We were young. We were wild. It’s not a new story. There was a lot of bed-hopping and dope-smoking. We were badly behaved boys and girls. And most of the time it was enormous fun. I’m sure Caro and April must have told you what sort of scene it was. And what they haven’t told you I expect you’re able to imagine, based on your own time at university. Where did you go?’

‘Liverpool.’

‘Where you didn’t lead a monastic existence, I assume.’

‘Not exactly, no.’

She looked thoughtful. ‘I can’t really imagine what Marty plans to tell you about Geoff.’

‘What can you tell me?’

‘Well, he was very good-looking. My mother would have called him dashing. In fact, I think that’s what she did call him after catching sight of him on graduation day. Definitely dishy. Girls flocked to him. But he never knew where to stop – with anything. I mean, we smoked a lot of cannabis, as I say. But Geoff moved on to cocaine. And he got hold of some LSD at one point. He did drugs the way he drank. To excess. I couldn’t keep up with him. Neither could anyone else for long. When I heard how he died, it wasn’t a huge surprise. He had a self-destructive streak that was part of his attraction. But you couldn’t rely on him or trust him or expect him to think about anyone except himself.’ Miranda shrugged. ‘Sorry.’

‘No need to apologize. I’ve heard it before.’