Against the backdrop of the expensive hotel room decor, he is reminiscent of the sort of man who might appear in commercials for razors or shampoo with his easy smile and polished, but effortless appearance. It is a look he takes a great deal of care to cultivate and one that has saved him more times than he can count.

The flat reminds him of the first place he’d ever stumbled into. That one was a break in gone wrong. The alarm was still active, screaming out to the street that they were there. The metal shutters had dropped and sirens blared from the back exit. It was in panic, praying under his breath, that he’d opened the bathroom door looking for a window but it didn’t open into the dingy toilet block he’d expected. Instead, it was into someone’s front room. With shouting from behind him and the blue light of the police cars pulsing through the shop, he’d shut off the logical part of his brain and stepped straight through. He slammed the door behind him and stood doubled over, hands on his knees, catching his breath in a flat he gradually recognised as one he’d walked past the window of that morning.