The hall light came on and Imogen banged on the door again.

‘I’m coming, wait!’ Adrian shouted from inside; he sounded drunk. He tripped over something in the hall and swore before opening the door and walking back inside.

‘Nice to see you’re behaving like an adult about all of this.’

‘Spare me your sanctimonious crap tonight, Grey, I’m not in the mood.’

Imogen closed the door behind her and stepped over a black bin bag full of used rags that had spilled out onto the floor; the hallway stank of turpentine. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

Adrian took his mobile phone out of his pocket and pulled up a picture. Someone had painted the words rapist pig on the door in bright red paint.

‘When I got home that was on the door. The paint was dry, so God knows when they did it. It was probably there all day.’

‘That’s vandalism. We can ask your neighbours if they saw who did it.’

‘Do you think my neighbours are going to help me out now? Bad enough being a cop. Not many things less popular than a rapist.’

‘But it’s not true. You didn’t do it. You need to snap out of this and start acting like someone who is innocent.’

‘Yeah, well, maybe I deserve this. Anyway, I cleaned it off and then decided to drink myself to sleep. Chin chin.’

‘You smell awful. Come on, you get in the shower, I’ll tidy up your hallway.’

Imogen took her coat off and hung it on the end of the bannister. She bent down to pick up the stinking rags and put them back in the bag.

‘What if this never goes away? This is one of those things that can’t be taken back once it’s out there.’ Adrian’s voice cracked. Imogen looked up to see tears in his eyes. ‘I would never do anything like that. I couldn’t. You know I couldn’t!’

‘People forget things, Miley, this is no different. It might take a couple of weeks, or months, but people will move on to the next thing – they always do. Besides, not all of us believed it in the first place.’

He was holding his breath, trying to stop himself from crying, but his eyes brimmed over and the tears fell. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and then winced, the turpentine fumes on his hands obviously aggravating his eyes.

Imogen tied the black bag up and pushed Adrian towards the staircase, both hands on his back, then up the stairs, along the hallway and to the bathroom. She left him slumped against the wall and went inside to turn the shower on. The bathroom was a mess. She picked his clothes off the floor and put them in the laundry basket, then waited until the water was warm before sticking her head back outside to find Adrian nodding off against the wall. She grabbed his arm, pulling him in, and yanked his shirt over his head.