‘So,’ she said, bolstered by seeing Madeleine again, by this brief window into her other life, but still aware she was making an insinuation that she could never retract. ‘Look, I don’t know if it’s anything, but when I was in Moscow, I saw Emsworth having a meeting. I don’t know who with, but it was fucking weird. He made me swear not to tell anyone in the department that I’d seen him. It could be nothing but it didn’t sit right … The way he was acting was … the whole thing was odd.’

Gabriela paused before sliding a photo across the table, looking away and carrying on before she could lose her nerve.

‘I took this picture. And it’s not just that. He’s been printing off information. Papers relating to an African businessman called Francisco Nguema. When I looked him up in the files, it seems he is tied up in corrupt business dealings with a number of British businessmen, as well as internationally. There wasn’t a photo but when I googled him … I think it’s this guy.’

She pointed to the man in the suit.

When she looked up, Madeleine’s eyes were shining. ‘Bloody hell. You’ve been sitting on this since Moscow?’

Gabriela blushed. ‘I’m sorry, Mads. Really, I wanted to tell you. I tried. I just …’

Madeleine shook her head. ‘I get it. I mean I don’t get it at all, you moron, but it’s good that you told me. I’m sure as hell going to look into it.’

She breathed in. ‘In the meantime, Miss bloody Marple, I’ve been wanting to ask you something too … How about, when you finish maternity leave, coming to work for me instead?’

Gabriela’s whole body was vibrating with excitement as she left the restaurant.

Keen to escape the crowds that battled it out come rain or shine across the bars and pubs and the same market stalls selling the same tatty T-shirts and bongs, she headed past the doorway she and Saoirse would duck into as schoolgirls, having snuck out of school early to smoke bidis on the canal. Saoirse. When she thought of her now, she felt a pang of guilt. Jesus, how long had it been since they had last spoken? Had Gabriela even called to say thank you since their last trip to visit Saoirse and Jim at their new home near Teignmouth, having traded in hipster Hackney for the Devon coast?