‘But the parents are starving too,’ he’d said calmly, steering her away from the slum. He had a report to write. ‘They can’t afford food either. The children would be dying either way. They’re doing what they think is best.’

She paused, reaching for her bag, but he hurried her on.

‘Don’t give them money or we’ll be surrounded. Follow me.’

He understood now how she could have thought he didn’t care. That his reaction must have looked cold, heartless. Maybe it was. But he was there with a job to do, he’d told himself then, while Eva was essentially a tourist. She had more time for sympathy. Besides, they had ten days planned together on the Trans-Siberian railway – that should give him chance enough to explain.

On the first day in their carriage, he laughed when the tap that was their only means of washing let out a trickle of water before stuttering to life and splashing his T-shirt. She watched him, stony-faced. She hadn’t spoken to him since they’d boarded the train. The next night, when the trickle failed to intensify, he cursed. He needed fresh breath and a decent night’s sleep. Arguments about how he’d done nothing wrong ran through his mind as he angled his toothbrush under the insubstantial flow – he’d wanted to feel closer to her, not push her further away. On the third morning he knew he absolutely needed to wash and made Eva wait outside so he could stand, naked, swearing, scooping palmfuls of cold water from the tiny basin to splash down his body in an attempt to mimic a shower. When she came back in – once he was fully dressed – they seemed like strangers, edging round each other in the confined space and avoiding eye contact. An apology lingered on his lips. That evening, he quietly wished her goodnight and lay awake on the lower bunk for hours, a knot of pain in his stomach as he realised their relationship might not survive the trip.

Standing outside her front door now he didn’t knock immediately. He knew the house well from weekends spent visiting her mum, but he’d not stepped inside since Eva left their flat and moved back here. He hadn’t been welcome after that, and though he’d phoned when Avigail was taken into hospital he knew his help wasn’t wanted and his presence wouldn’t have been a comfort to either of them.