‘I told you on the phone, it isn’t,’ she says, leaning her arms on the desk and interweaving her fingers.

‘Whatever it’s about, I’m sorry. I apologise. Things have been rather difficult at work lately.’ Her expression brings him to a grinding halt. It’s not going to matter what he says. His eyes light on her perfectly polished fingernails. His stomach drops. ‘Why are you dressed like that?’

‘Like what?’

‘As though you’ve been to a business meeting.’

She compresses her lips and closes her eyes. ‘This isn’t the order I wanted to do things in, but if you must know, I went to see a solicitor.’

‘Why on earth…?’ He feels himself lurch back in shock. What is this all about? He has a sudden urge to stop the clock, get back in the car and just drive.

‘Please, Veronica, I don’t want to lose you,’ he says. He needs her now, his last ally. ‘Whatever it is, I’ll change, I’ll be different.’

She meets his eye with a thunderous look. ‘I found something. You’d hidden it rather well which is why, I suppose, I didn’t see it before. But the solicitor advised me to gather information. So that’s what I did. Helps that you’re a little careless about where you hide your keys, Christopher. The envelope is still in the drawer. I couldn’t bear to leave it out.’ She draws out a large manila envelope and pushes it across the polished surface towards him.

Cullen screws his eyes so tight that he’s seeing white spots. He knows what this is, but he does not want to know. His whole life hangs from a spider’s silk. The spider is hiding out somewhere, waiting for him to weaken. His only defence now is to stall for time and act as though he were the wronged party. His eyes spring open. ‘Wait,’ he says, swallowing hard and doing his best to bring out a commanding tone, ‘what were you doing rooting through my things?’

‘What was I doing?’ Veronica says in an unbelieving tone. ‘What’s this?’ She holds up a tiny, scraggy piece of newsprint, something he didn’t recall having kept, but immediately recognises.

‘It was a long time ago,’ he says.

‘Rape?’

‘No, no, Veronica. You’ve got the wrong end of the stick.’

She reads, ‘Boy questioned by police in alleged rape case is mathematics prodigy Christopher Mulholland.’

‘That was a malicious allegation. Entirely without foundation, which is why it never went any further. I was never charged or even cautioned. God, you can’t hold that against me. I was fifteen.’

‘Is that why you changed your name?’

‘Years afterwards yes. Those allegations tailed me for years, made my life a misery and sullied my name even though I was entirely innocent.’