‘It’s almost like she’s blind,’ he said to Karen. ‘Know what I mean? She sees everything and nothing. She didn’t describe herself in those terms. Rich, poor, posh – it’s not how she thinks.’

‘How did you meet?’

‘At this place near where I live. I had this art exhibition. She came to see it.’

Dufour laughed and said something.

‘An art show?’ said Karen coldly. Not coldly to Dan, but because Dufour had been rude.

Dan gave her a smile, to show her it was OK. ‘It was a student show.’

‘So when did you find out she was an heiress?’

An heiress. It was an archaic word. To be an heiress, Bea would have to inherit, people only inherited on a death. It wasn’t the first time it had crossed his mind.

‘It wasn’t like that,’ he said. ‘She told me her dad was in property. She said she didn’t see her family, and she told me she never borrowed money from them. I respect that. That’s it.’

‘That’s it?’

‘Yes.’

Dufour said something. He sounded sarcastic. Dan tried not to look uncomfortable, he didn’t mean to lie, but the truth he was telling was not the perfect truth. Karen turned to him.

‘He says: it must be exciting for you, to discover your father-in-law is a multimillionaire.’

‘Exciting?’ Dan’s mouth was dry. ‘No.’

‘Griff Adamson is a property developer,’ said Karen. ‘You are an estate agent.’

Dan laughed. ‘Yeah, but –’

‘Were you interested in Beatrice for this reason?’

‘No.’ Dan looked at Dufour. ‘No,’ he said again, firmly. He looked back at Karen. ‘You can tell him, Bea doesn’t even like them. I’d only met them once, before coming to France, OK? I didn’t know anything about them, and to tell you the truth I’m not all that interested. Can you tell him that?’

Karen nodded briskly, and translated, a long stream of French, while Dan watched Dufour’s face for a reaction, and saw none. Then Dufour asked something else.

‘He wants to know why Bea doesn’t like her family. What have they done to her?’

‘Done to her?’ Dan felt awkward. ‘They haven’t done anything. She doesn’t like their politics.’ He shrugged. ‘Her mother liked her brothers better.’

‘Why?’

‘Why? I dunno. Just normal stuff. Bea’s very ethical. She’s very moral. She just doesn’t get on with them, OK?’

Dufour spoke.

‘Your mother’s home,’ said Karen, ‘where you grew up. How big is it?’

‘Seriously?’ said Dan. ‘It’s a flat.’

‘Is it in a bad area?’

‘A “bad” area?’

Karen made a face that said I know, humour him.

‘It’s an OK area,’ said Dan expressionlessly.

Dufour spoke.

‘He says: did you have a rough childhood?’

‘No.’

‘He says: were you involved with gangs?’

‘Has he heard of racial stereotyping?’ said Dan. ‘You have that expression here, right?’