As the gorgeous waitress walked away, I admired the curves of her hips and buttocks emphasised by that sexy, short-black skirt. Long brunette hair secured in a neat pony tail reminded me of porn film secretaries. Not that I watched pornography, you understand. Some lads working for me had mentioned naughty secretaries, honest. Though I’d been happily married for seven years, I wasn’t dead yet. And the predatory way she smiled at me when she handed me the bill…

Looking down, I unfolded the paper to see if a second-mortgage would be needed to pay for that exquisite vintage wine. But where I expected large numbers followed by dozens of zeros, instead a few words were scrawled in pencil upon a scrap of notepaper. Perhaps the waitress had accidentally handed me one of her order slips. I raised my hand to hale her, but when I looked toward the double door into the kitchen area, that memorable arse was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, I took out my reading glasses to read the bill.

LOOK BEHIND YOU!

That day had started in a humdrum way. I’d kissed Alice on the doorstep, waved to the kids – Jack and Lauren – peering from the front window, then drove to the Cambridge Science Park where I work. But soon after arriving in my office, I received a surprise phone call from an old friend.

Douglas had been a close friend of mine. We’d met fifteen years before at university where we soon became inseparable, going to all the wild student parties together. We both joined the university’s Officer Training Cadets. After enlisting in the army, we both served with the Special Air Services in Bosnia. We even entered civvy street together. Yet somehow we’d drifted apart and lost contact, so I was delighted to hear from him.

“Hello, Laddie,” he said. I recognised his distinctive Sean Connery wannabe voice immediately.

“Doug! How the Devil are you?”

“Fine, lad.” I imagined that familiar cheeky grin I knew so well from hours spent together in mess halls, pubs and student bars all around the world. “I’m in Cambridge, just for the day. Want to meet up?”

“You’re here! Really?”

He laughed down the phone line. “Would I joke?”