‘Don’t you know? I thought you were in regular contact?’

‘Not really.’

‘It’s hard to get through to her sometimes. Phone signals are dodgy in these places, aren’t they?’

‘My phone works well there. Must be a network thing.’

‘Must be a network thing,’ he said.

‘Must be,’ I said.

‘Things have been a little fraught, actually,’ he said.

‘Right.’

‘For reasons I’m going to ask you about.’

‘OK. Ask away.’

‘Let’s get a drink and sit down.’

‘OK. But she’s all right?’

‘Yes, yes. When I get hold of her she says she’s working well. She’s enjoying the town.’

‘The town?’

‘Or am I putting words into her mouth? The quiet. She’s getting work done. It’s kind of you to lend her the house.’

I pretended again that I didn’t catch his tone. ‘It’s nice to have her in there. We’ve finally had a bit of interest in it, actually. We might be able to sell it soon.’

‘Well. That will be a handy bit of cash.’

‘My sister thinks that if we club together it will be enough for a deposit on an ex-council flat in very far south-south-east London where I can live and pay the mortgage while we wait for the value to shoot up when it becomes the last place anyone can afford to live. The place she has in mind is called Downhill, which sounds like somewhere in a Dickens novel. I’ve been sent a list of places she wants me to go and check out.’

‘How is your sister? I liked her.’

‘She’s OK. I hope.’

‘Does she always take charge of your life?’

‘Let me give her a ring and ask her.’

Either Andrew hadn’t noticed I was being witty, or he hadn’t considered that I was being witty. He had attracted the barman’s attention and was ordering two pints.

‘I was going to get those,’ I said.

‘It’s fine.’ He handed me my pint. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ he said, leading his way out of the scrum with his right shoulder. We went outside and found a couple of wicker chairs to sit down in next to the shop front of an architect’s office.

‘Well,’ he said.

‘OK?’

‘Emily asked me whether I’d been sleeping with one of my PhD students. Chloe. Whom we spoke about at the launch.’

‘Yes.’

‘And with whom you saw me going into a hotel, apparently?’

‘Yes?’

‘And you told Emily you’d seen us going into a hotel?’

‘Yes. The Hoxton round the corner from where I work. You and I even spoke at the bar.’

‘What?’

‘You were in the bar with her. I recognised you. You came over to ask me what I was looking at and bought me a pint. I was reading a biography of George Eliot, which you commented on.’