‘Anyway,’ said Bruce. ‘Let’s take a look at this place. What did you pay for it, Matthew?’

Matthew was about to tell him, but Bruce was not listening.

‘I notice that you didn’t ask for a valuation,’ Bruce went on. ‘So I won’t give you anything in writing. But I can give you a verbal valuation if you like. It won’t cost you anything extra. You want it?’

Matthew was uncertain. Bruce, however, continued. ‘In its current condition – which is not brilliant, I’d say – about seven hundred thousand tops. Maybe a tiny bit more in a good market. What did you pay, Matthew? Six fifty?’

Matthew said nothing. Bruce looked at him, waiting for an answer that did not come.

‘You didn’t pay eight, did you?’

Matthew turned away. ‘It’s private,’ he said.

Bruce shrugged. ‘Oh, well. Let’s go through here … Hold on, hold on.’

Matthew watched as Bruce looked up at the ceiling.

‘Odd space,’ said Bruce. ‘Usually you find …’

‘I think they did some alterations,’ said Matthew. ‘The lawyer said something about not having had permission. I thought that it wouldn’t matter too much as we weren’t planning to sell it again in the short term.’

Bruce frowned. ‘Hold on … Look, you see up there? There? Yes. That’s where a wall used to join the roof. That’s what they took away. And it went all the way to where that Chinese thingy is – that cabinet.’

Bruce pointed to the far side of the room where a large Chinese display cabinet reached all the way up from floor to ceiling.

‘Yes,’ said Matthew.

Bruce turned to look at him. He lowered his voice. ‘That wall, Matthew, was a supporting wall. You see – look up there. You see that bulge in the ceiling? That’s your proof.’

‘A supporting wall?’

‘Yes,’ said Bruce. ‘And you know what a supporting wall does? It supports. And you know what happens when you take away a supporting wall? You have no support.’

‘But if that were the case,’ said Matthew, ‘then wouldn’t the ceiling have come down?’

Bruce nodded. ‘It should have. But you see that cabinet over there? That, I think, is holding up the ceiling. Move that and the whole thing comes down.’

Matthew stared at Bruce in horror.

‘And here’s something else,’ said Bruce. ‘If the ceiling comes down, then that could bring down the ceiling above it, and so on – all the way to the top flat and the roof. And if that happened, then the flats next door could lose vital support and come down as well. So the whole of Moray Place could fall over like a house of cards.’

‘Oh,’ said Matthew.

‘So the fact of the matter,’ Bruce said, relishing his newly found Jeremiah role, ‘the fact of the matter is that all of Moray Place is probably being supported by one Chinese cabinet. Quite a thought, that!’