‘I mean, this could be a hell of a nice place, couldn’t it?’ he said. ‘I know Alex had all kinds of plans for it.’

‘So,’ said Dan abruptly, putting down his glass, ‘where are you planning to stay tonight?’

Russ looked taken aback. ‘I can’t stay here?’

‘I need to talk to Bea. Excuse us,’ said Dan, and they both stood up. It didn’t make a dent in his cheerfulness.

‘Yeah, sure, go ahead,’ he said.

They both went inside. They could see Russ through the window, lighting his roll-up and nodding his head, as if he was listening to music, or somebody talking.

‘I called Vincent,’ she said, not taking her eyes from him.

‘Did he answer?’

‘Voicemail.’

‘Everything he’s saying he could have got from Alex in one night,’ said Dan.

‘I know.’

They were both very calm and measured, each of them waiting for the other to say the unsayable.

‘I’ll call Vincent again,’ said Bea.

‘I’ll tell this guy he has to go.’

‘Maybe we should just leave him here?’

‘No, I’ll tell him.’

‘Why?’

But Dan had gone back outside.

Bea went into the hall. Vincent’s number didn’t even ring, just two short beeps. She went through the calls on the tiny grey screen, trying to find the gendarmerie number. She heard a noise behind her. Russ was in the room.

‘Hey! Do you have a speaker, or something like that?’ He was ebullient, making it ridiculous to fear him. But still, she feared him.

‘A speaker?’

Dan caught up behind.

‘I’m going to go get mine from the car,’ said Russ.

He went to the front door, quickly.

‘Hold on!’ he said. ‘Just be a tick!’

He went out, leaving the door open.

‘I told him,’ said Dan. He laughed, not like a real laugh, panic. ‘He wants us to hear some band. He says he’ll go after that.’

‘This is so mad,’ said Bea.

‘Yeah.’

‘I don’t know what to do.’

They heard the pip of the central lock as Russ opened his car. Dan looked outside.

‘Nice car.’

‘BMW.’ Russ was rummaging inside.

‘That’s an M4,’ said Dan. ‘That’s got to be sixty grand’s worth of car.’

Russ looked over his shoulder at them, grinning, and held something up.

‘Got it!’

He ran back in, flat-footed and clownish, opening his arms as if he were welcoming them. ‘Listen, I feel bad I busted in on you like this. Seriously.’

‘It’s OK,’ said Dan automatically, he didn’t know why he said it, locked in by an unspoken rule, politeness, or the need for normality.