‘She was keen as mustard to help, and she’d got this idea I was special in some way, I don’t know why. James and her mother were having a thing at the time, so maybe James was boasting about our chambers and her mother passed it on …’ He took a long breath. ‘Anyway, as a result, when she was with me, she seemed overawed, almost tongue-tied. She used to gaze at me with these huge grey eyes as if I were a pop idol or something.’ Michael glanced briefly at Romy, raising his eyebrows in a grim smile. ‘It was very flattering.’

Romy did not respond. She heard the throwaway detail about James and Nell, but it barely registered, she was so intent on listening to what Michael had to say.

‘I was in the middle of the Brigham case. I was stressed out of my mind, working every hour God sent. The man was such a devious bastard.’ He stopped, as if he’d lost his thread. Then he shook his head, almost impatiently. ‘Grace volunteered to help me sort out this mountain of papers for the following day. I was swamped. It was baking hot that week and the windows don’t open properly in my rooms because of security, so the place was really stifling. I knew I’d be at it all night …’ He took another deep breath.

Romy was listening in a haze of disappointment, realizing that some small part of her had still clung to the faint possibility that none of this had ever happened, that it was just some crazy fabrication on Grace’s part. But he was speaking with too much gravitas.

‘At some point I told her she should go home, it was late. But she refused. So I offered her a glass of wine and poured one for myself. She sat on the sofa and patted the seat next to her.’ He paused, perhaps remembering. ‘“ Stop that for a second,” she said, “ and come and sit over here.”’ He raised his head and looked across at Romy. She saw what she thought was almost defiance in his eyes. ‘And, yes, I kissed her. I honestly thought she wanted me to … I’m so sorry, Romy.’

Romy heard a faint sigh and watched her husband press his good hand across his eyes. ‘I thought … I don’t know what I thought, I wasn’t thinking at all. I was just …’ He lifted his hand, palm up, as if, all these years later, he was still bewildered by what had happened that night. ‘I know it was terribly wrong. She was a child. And, obviously, there was you …’ He stopped again.