‘Oh, sorry. Erm, number twenty-five. Just carry on up past the lamp-post and I’m on the left.’ Donny drove a few yards further and pulled up outside the house. Behind him the black car pulled over too, still far enough away not to be noticed. Melanie was in no rush to get out. She sat looking at him and Donny started to worry she was going to go in for a kiss. Fuck, fuck, fuck. That was all he needed. He braced himself to push her away, but now she was looking out of the window, clearly nervous about getting out – he could see that her hands were trembling. She looked back at him once she’d completed her recce of the dark street. ‘At least he’s not about tonight, stalking me.’

Donny found himself looking in his rearview mirror to check there was no one lurking. ‘Go on, quick, get inside. I’ll watch til you’re in safely.’ She opened the door slowly. ‘You’re OK. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you in work tomorrow, Donny, and thanks for the drink. Maybe we can do it again sometime?’

Donny just wanted to get out of there. He tried not to let his impatience show. ‘Yes, yeah, great, see you at school. Night.’ At last she was gone. He pulled away quickly; she didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get indoors. As he looked back through his wing mirror, he could see her still stood on the street watching him drive off. ‘Bloody hell,’ he mumbled under his breath. ‘That was a close one.’

As Donny headed home, he turned up the stereo; his tunes were pumping and he was singing his head off, lost in the lyrics. His phone was ringing again but he ignored it. Whoever it was could wait. He was going home and putting his feet up, chilling. Today had been a long day, a very long one indeed.

As soon as he let himself in the front door, Donny spotted Susan’s car keys on the hall table. He was confused; hadn’t she said she was meeting up with Sadie? He walked into the kitchen and saw his wife sat at the table drinking a glass of red wine. She looked stressed.

‘Hello, baby, I thought you was doing counselling for your nutty mate tonight?’

She ran her finger slowly around the top of her glass and lifted her eyes up to meet his. ‘I changed my mind, couldn’t face it. Just rang her instead. Where have you been anyway?’