It was he who had first suggested an arrangement. Taken Satnam to lunch at Luigi’s, laid out in some detail, without actually using the words, how she could sleep her way to a first-class degree. There were conditions. He demanded absolute discretion. If anyone else so much as suspected anything, the deal would be over. Secondly, during their encounters he would only ever refer to her as ‘Zoe’. When she demurred, he piled on the pressure by taking her coursework grades down a notch or two. At the same time, he believed, her parents were also pressuring her to give up her studies and marry. When she finally conceded he waited until she slept and took a few ‘glamour shots’ in the room at the Travelodge as insurance. He didn’t for one moment consider where their affair would go or when it might end. He was living a fantasy that had to be realised. For the first time in years, decades perhaps, he felt truly alive.

All that is over. The bubble has burst. He recognises that. Veronica is his only future now. Not his one true love, but no matter. Perhaps for a man as sensitive as Cullen there can only be one great love affair in a life. With Veronica there might be a future in a life where all too often only the past has seemed real. There might be some solace to be found in a normal life with a wife and, soon, a child. He could clear his debts. Ask Veronica’s father for the money. The imminent arrival of a grandchild would make it impossible for his father-in-law to say no. Veronica is my only ally, he thinks. The one person who will stand by me. Without Veronica I am condemned to live with the ghosts of the drowned and the dead.