“Sit. Twenty-four years ago a doctor told your mother and me that it was impossible that we could ever have children.”

“Oh. Why not?”

“I can’t remember the precise reason. It was something to do with penises, I think. We decided to adopt a child.”

Every note of this is pitch perfect, from the “walking accident” that claimed Hugh’s real parents to the way Stephen spits out the name Teece.

“I knew it! It sounds funny, Father, but in my heart I knew there was something. I realize now that I have been waiting for this moment all my life.”

“Yes! Yes, it must be so.”

“Where do I find this beast, this Pewnack the destroyer?”

“He lives in Saffron Walden.”

“Saffron Walden, right.”