‘Really? I run a charity, what a coincidence! Which one were you with?’ He widened his eyes, laughing. ‘I swear – I’m not just saying that as a dodgy chat-up line.’

‘Amnesty International,’ she smiled. ‘What about you?’

‘Nothing quite so impressive, I’m afraid. We’re a small environmental non-profit. GEF – Global Environmental Federation. That’s my main business, anyway.’ He shrugged, acknowledging her expression. ‘I know, but believe me, I’m not so painfully earnest as that makes me sound. So whereabouts were you living?’ he asked, turning the conversation back to her.

‘Just off Tverskaya,’ she replied, picturing the wide central street alive with cars, weaving erratically between lanes of traffic, the road flanked on each side with imposing shops and hotels; impossibly glamorous couples stepping out of chauffeur-driven cars.

The man nodded approvingly, as the waitress arrived with his lunch, turning to take her empty plate. ‘Anything else?’

After a moment’s hesitation, she shook her head. ‘Just the bill, please.’

Standing, she felt self-conscious of her bare legs.

‘It was good talking to you,’ he said, looking up at her with an intensity she could not have fabricated when she thought back on it, later. ‘My name’s Ivan, by the way.’

She smiled. ‘You too. Do svidaniya.’

‘Nadeyus, eshche raz uvidimsya,’ he replied: I hope to see you again.

His words brushed over her skin as she left the building, her whole body alive with anticipation, though for what she could hardly have imagined.

Chapter 27

Gabriela

Madeleine called again as Gabriela entered the tube station, and she pressed Reject, expecting to receive another frustrated voicemail. Madeleine had been due to travel abroad for work a couple of days after Gabriela walked out of the FCO for the final time, and so there was little risk of her showing up at the house demanding an explanation. But she’d be back soon, and there was only so long she could be fobbed off without a proper explanation as to why Gabriela had left so abruptly, not least given their pact, however ineffectual it had been.

When Gabriela got home that evening, Tom was waiting for her in the living room, Sadie and Callum already asleep upstairs.

‘I was thinking we could take the kids to see my parents this weekend,’ he said before Gabriela had a chance to make her excuses to have a bath and head to bed. For a moment her heart leapt at the chance to get away, the change of scene, time with the kids, but instantly her anticipation turned to dread. The prospect of the drive to Edinburgh, Tom and her side by side, free to catch up in a way that just couldn’t end well. Not yet. Not while she was still undecided as to what she should do.