‘It’s sad,’ she said, her hands shaking, ‘when I think how worried I was back then. I thought I had to do what you said. But I was naïve if I thought you had my best interests at heart. Because if it had been this big scandal – which I don’t think it would’ve been anyway; so what if I was sleeping with a woman? – you thought it would have harmed you as well. You were our label manager. If Big World hadn’t re-signed us because I was in a relationship with a woman, you’d have lost your most successful act.’

She was trying to act blasé, but in truth she was worried – more than worried. Not about him, not anymore, but because she’d been unearthed. Dug up like a hibernating mole, blinking and afraid. Neither she nor the police had ever been able to prove that what had happened to her back then was connected to him – to his blackmailing her – but it would forever be linked with him in her memory.

‘Actually, no biggie,’ he said airily. ‘It wasn’t like I was on commission. They’d have just assigned me to another band. But that’s not the point. I shouldn’t have got involved in that way. I was … wrong.’

The last word was extruded with difficulty, as if he had speech constipation.

‘Is that why you’re ringing me now? What do you want?’

She would have to move. Leave the country, start again.

‘Right, so, I have something amazing to tell you! You gonna be so psyched. Are you still in touch with the other guys?’

‘If you mean Cohen, then no. They hate me, if you remember.’

Meredith had read enough bitter interviews with her former band members over the years to know this was true. After her sudden and inexplicable defection in ninety-five they had laid low for a while, then employed a short-lived series of alternate female lead singers, none of whom had set the charts alight for them. They’d eventually disbanded a couple of years later. She knew she’d hurt them, personally as well as professionally – they had been such good friends – but she hadn’t ever dared contact any of them again, or even try to explain, for fear of discovery.

He made a ‘pffft’ noise. ‘Ah, that’s all in the past!’

The man was unbelievable.

‘Iain, it’s all in the past. I don’t know what you want from me, but if it’s anything to do with the band, the answer is a definite “no way”. I don’t care what it is.’

‘We should meet for a drink, so I can explain it better.’

‘Not happening.’

‘Don’t be like that! Don’t you want to make half a million quid this year?’

‘No.’