The Americano was perfect.

It took him back to the county council office where he would sometimes interfere with the percolator to create a stronger brew, and he found himself shunted back to his desk as he remembered the day he emptied its drawers, never to return. The house, however – Casa Elouisa – had been even more perfect. He and Elizabeth had set off on the second day to the nearest big town, and that’s where they had found the Museum of Torture.

Why would anyone go to a museum of torture?

Why would anyone remember going to a museum of torture, and remember it now, just as happier thoughts were needed? And who had dreamed such a place up, and obtained funding? In fact, Elizabeth didn’t go in. It was a hot afternoon, and they hadn’t gone out looking for the place: they simply strolled past it on their way to a terrace so overgrown with bougainvillea that the flowers looked like an eruption. Two espressos, hot and bitter – and across the road a sign in red and yellow, painted in both Spanish and English: Galería de la Inquisicion!

‘You want to go in, don’t you?’ said Elizabeth.

‘Of course.’

‘Go on, then.’

‘No. It’s shameful. It’s sick.’

‘You go, and tell me about it. I’m happy here.’

She was, because she had an Agatha Christie novel in her bag, and Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple would be working out who was to blame. The museum, meanwhile, was cool, with several large rooms inviting him to use his imagination as he contemplated other people’s pain. There were thumbscrews and hammers. There were slides that would run you onto lacerating blades, and seats with spikes – there was one that let a kind of spear up between your buttocks, slowly. Michael found a grenade with a little handle on the bottom. Pictures revealed that it could be pushed into your mouth: when the inquisitor turned the handle sharp metal leaves opened and cut through your gums and cheeks. It was a punishment from some bizarre, hideous cartoon – except it was real. The thing had existed, and it even had levers to break your teeth, all from the inside. The explanation was in three different languages, and Michael learned that the item could also be inserted into the anus or the vagina.