It’s a bit of a relief as we make our way up the stairs, past the crush of people sitting in small groups, smoking and having intense conversations. As the crowd thins the temperature cools and the noise recedes a little.

“This is quite a party,” I manage when we make it to the top landing.

Ben laughs. “Gert and Lili wouldn’t call this a party, Bea. This is just an average Tuesday night for them.” He gestures back towards the crowd. “This house is always absolutely full of people, so you’d better get used to it. Friends of friends, like-minded folk. They all find Lili and Gert… People are just drawn to them, I guess. They’re like the flame that all the moths gather around.”

“I can see why,” I say. “They’re so open, so friendly. They remind me of Filomena.”

“Well, she spent a lot of time with them too,” Ben says. “Come on. I’ve got something to show you.” He reaches up to a cord that hangs from the ceiling and pulls open a trapdoor with a rickety ladder that slides noiselessly down. “Follow me,” Ben calls over his shoulder as he starts to climb.

I hesitate for only a second before following. When I stick my head through the trapdoor I see that we’re in an attic room, dark and poky and seemingly used for storage. There are lots of bulky objects covered in dust sheets. Ben is fiddling with the latch on the small window and once he manages to get it open he starts to squeeze through.

“Ben!” I gasp. “What are you doing?”

“Come on,” he calls again, his voice a dare, a challenge I don’t want to refuse. Tentatively, I poke my head out of the window and see him scrambling along a broad ledge. There’s a short wall on the other side, but it doesn’t even come up to my knees and on the other side of that wall is a sheer drop down, down, down to the tiny garden below.

With a sigh, and against my better judgement, I haul myself out on top of the ledge, holding my breath and determinedly keeping my eyes away from the wall on my right as I mutter the Lord’s Prayer under my breath.

As I move towards Ben’s voice the roof on my left flattens out into a platform and this is where I find Ben is waiting.

“You made it!” he says, and he holds out his hand for me, helping me to pick my way over the tiles. “There! Now, tell me that wasn’t worth risking life and limb for.”

“Oh, goodness,” I breathe as I turn around.