Having reached the little front gate, Lucas retreated to the other side of the street to gather himself. It was dawning on him that he should have thought to phone or message first. His mind, the part of his make-up he had always trusted the most, was like jelly. Because of bloody Moira and her unspeakable father. Because of stress, a term he had scornfully believed to be universally over-used, until now. Lucas hid behind the umbrella as he pondered, fishing in his pocket for his mobile. He would say he’d had a meeting in West London, he decided – the best lies always being the ones closest to the truth – and that he wanted to touch base about Dylan. His phone screen was so moist it wouldn’t recognise his face. Lucas’s fingers, stiff and cold, resisted cooperation as he put in his code. A cup of coffee wouldn’t go amiss either, he thought – his spirits lifting a little – and maybe even a biscuit. Esther was usually kind, that was one of the things about her.

He was about to press the call button when a well-built woman in bright-green dungarees with electric-red hair, flew out of the house next to Esther’s. Ducking her head and cradling herself against the rain, she hopped over the rusting loops of a fence dividing their front gardens and rang Esther’s bell. The door opened almost at once and the woman disappeared inside. It was probably just a neighbourly visit to borrow something, Lucas told himself, slipping the phone back into his pocket, resolving to wait it out. A couple of minutes later, a car with a taxi sign on its roof swung into view from the other end of the street, reversing expertly into a tight space a few yards beyond the house. The driver, a swarthy-looking man in a yellow sweatshirt, a peaked cap flattening a thick mop of dark hair, leapt out and strode up the path to ring Esther’s bell. Lucas peered round the edge of his brolly, feeling wrong-footed and feeble. Could she be going on another holiday? She hadn’t mentioned a new trip to him, but then of course why should she? He peeked again from under the lip of his umbrella, curiosity turning to bafflement as the cabbie, too, was ushered inside.