“That’s exactly what I mean, dad.”

He looked saddened by my lack of understanding, a reaction that frustrated me almost beyond control. “All right then, what does she give you?”

“That is too.”

Before I could be driven into useless recklessness I said “Are you still being taken to those sites?”

“I’m taking Bell, or we’re taking each other.”

“And what is all that giving anyone?”

“Rash.” Despite its force, this was pronounced so distinctly that it sounded like a warning not to pursue the subject, but its repetition owned up to being a sneeze. Once he’d dealt with his nose, having grabbed a wad of paper napkins, Roy said rather less intelligibly “Brings us closer to your aunt as well.”

“As well as each other, you mean.”

“You’ve been there with us, dad.” This sounded not unlike an accusation, and so did “You know what happens to us.”

I became aware that several of the diners who’d laughed at or otherwise reacted to Roy’s sneezes were listening. However I might have replied to him, I couldn’t now, and we settled into an uneasy silence until Roy said “Thanks, dad, I’ve had enough.”

Though he’d left almost half his meal, entirely untypically, I knew even the gentlest nagging would only annoy him. I’d already finished my lunch. “I’ll give you a lift,” I said.

“Just going to the wee room.”

I hadn’t heard him use Julia’s term for it since he was a toddler, and it left him seeming oddly vulnerable. “Find me outside,” I said.

I retreated along the colonnade while I searched my recent phone calls for a number. “Archive,” a woman said, not Julia.

“I was reading a book in there and then it got lost somehow.”

“Is this Julia’s son?”

In case identifying myself would lose me information I said “I was just wondering if it showed up.”

“It hasn’t, no. I’m afraid we think your father may have been involved.”

I tried to let out no more anger than my son might have. “How?”

“He had it when it disappeared. We still haven’t established what happened.”

I had some idea of that, which left me more frustrated than ever. “No need to say I called,” I said as Roy wandered out of the restaurant, peering around in search of me. The phone was in my pocket by the time he reached me, and I was deciding on a plan as we made for the car.

I drove as directly through the city centre as the convoluted traffic system allowed, but turned away from the main railway station. “Drop me anywhere here, dad,” Roy said.

“No, I’ll take you home.” Having neglected to lock the doors, I remedied this at once. “Back to your mother’s, I mean,” I said.

“You don’t need to. I’ve got a return on the train.”