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him John. John and Josie. They were a team. He was dressed all in black and he wore a Mickey Mouse mask. Frightening, you know?’ he added, thinking about it. ‘Rough voice. As soon as he’d got enough pictures, she put her coat back on and said she’d wait outside till he’d finished. It was like a bad dream. I got out of bed and put on my dressing gown over my pyjamas—’
    â€˜You were wearing pyjamas?’
    â€˜The central heating goes off at ten and the house can be chilly even in May. I always have cold feet, which is one of the reasons Eunice didn’t like me in her bed.’
    â€˜So the snapshots showed her naked and you in pyjamas? Not exactly an erotic scene.’
    â€˜She’s erotic enough in her bare skin, I can tell you. I was very nearly aroused and it takes something for me . . . Well, you won’t be interested in my health problems, will you? He had one of those cameras where you can see what pictures have been taken, and he showed them to me. The head shots didn’t show my pyjamas, but they showed a lot of her. He sat down on the end of my bed, and he patted my hand and said that I’d been having it off with an under-age girl and these photos could get me into a lot of trouble. He said that he knew a way out. That’s when he asked for money. Not all that much. Five thousand pounds. He said he knew I owned the house and that my wife was a top earner, and I could easily afford to pay. I simply couldn’t believe it was happening, and I laughed out loud.
    â€˜He didn’t like that. He said . . . Oh, he said a lot of things, most of which I can’t remember. But the gist of it was that he’d give me twenty-four hours to pay up, before sending the photos to my wife and to the school where I taught, so that they could see what I’d been up to. He said it was my choice, to pay up or be destroyed.
    â€˜Then he left. He just walked out of the house. I was trembling. Shock, I suppose. I got myself a large brandy – I don’t usually drink, but that was . . . Then I tried to ring Eunice, but she was out of town and had turned off her mobile to get a good night’s sleep, so I left her a message and I got myself something to eat and then – I just waited for her to ring me back. There was nothing else I could do. Copies of the photos were pushed through the letter box before eight next morning. That Josie could . . .’
    He shook his head at himself. ‘I’m a right mug, aren’t I? At first I told myself that no one would believe that I’d interfered with a young girl. I told myself Eunice would laugh when I told her. But she didn’t. Ugh! Bad time, that. She was furious with me. She warned me not to tell the police because she didn’t want her husband to go to jail, which I suppose I might have done. She said she didn’t want me to tell Clarissa, either, but then she told Clarissa herself. She told me to get out of the house and go to a hotel that night. She said she never wanted to see me again, that she would divorce me. I took the photos into school and told the head what had happened. He was fair enough, I suppose, suspended me rather than gave me the sack. I had to leave my pupils almost ready to take their exams . . . Oh well. Perhaps they’ll be all right.
    â€˜Looking on the bright side,’ he said, attempting a smile, ‘I’d been working night and day to do my daytime job while trying to keep up with a commission to provide background music for some docudramas: television, cutting edge, fascinating stuff. And there’s more work to come provided they don’t hear about what I’m supposed to have done with Josie and make me persona non grata. Should I tell the television people about it? I think not.’ His brow furrowed. ‘A pity you don’t know anything about music. I’m having trouble with the coda. I can’t quite see how to . . . It’ll