And that was what he’d say to the police, two weeks later, after Honor had finally managed to persuade Zoe – against all the advice from her tutor, the dean of studies and the student welfare office – to go with her to the police station and report the rape.

We have a witness who will swear the alleged assailant was with her from 10.30 and for the whole of the rest of the night, the police said.

You didn’t like him, because he had a crush on your friend, they said. You put ideas in your friend’s head. Why did no one else hear you calling out ‘Get off her’? Why didn’t you get help from another student in the corridor? Why did the security guard find the door closed when you said it was open? How come you didn’t try to find another witness? Why are you claiming you were advised by Zoe’s tutor and others not to go to the police when they all remember advising the exact opposite? Why didn’t Zoe go to the police as soon as it happened? Why, why, why?

So this is how it will go, she thought at the time. On and on and on until they circle back to the version they have already decided on.

‘I let down a friend,’ she says now. ‘I didn’t fight for her. Not hard enough, or not effectively anyway. It would take too long to explain.’

‘I’d like to hear one day,’ Alex says. ‘Turn here.’ He points to a single-track road leading into a dell lined on either side with beech trees. At its lowest point, beside a stream, they come upon a small brick-built cottage with a tiny garden filled with daffodils.

‘This is it.’

Honor pulls the van onto the verge and they get out. A red dog ambles over, twisting in delight at the sight of Alex. An elegant woman in her late forties appears and comes down the path to greet them. Alex gives her a peck on the cheek.

‘You must be Honor,’ she says warmly and, taking Honor’s hand in both of hers, goes on, ‘Alex has told me all about you. Please come in.’ Honor smiles nervously, observing Anne’s poise, the graciousness of her welcome. Is this why Alex was so keen that she come? Put her up for inspection by his ex? She’s doomed if that’s the case. Compared to Anne she’s a scruff, a vagabond, a tomboy, a woman who’s never really cared for any of the usual feminine wiles.