‘Just that, at first. She started here in the still-room. That is, washing and cleaning the equipment and the tableware. She was quite . . . ehrgeizig . . . ambitious . . . is that the word? She wanted to be a waitress. But she needed much training. She was a long way off being able to serve the tables.’

‘But you said she was a waitress?’

‘A kitchen waitress. She would have a uniform, but her job was to bring the prepared dishes from the kitchen to the sideboard tables on the restaurant floor. Then the waiters, our fully trained staff, serve the guests. This is a very efficient system, in use in most of the great restaurants in Europe. This is associated with service à la russe, as we call it.’

‘Sorry . . . à la what?’ Mossop asked.

‘Service à la russe. It’s the Russian way of serving dinner, with each course put up in succession. It’s generally used in restaurants across Europe now. In the older way, service à la française, the French way, all the dishes would be served together.’

Swallow saw Mossop struggling to get the narrative down in his notebook. Nor would he be able to grapple with Werner’s French. It hardly mattered.

‘How long was she working here?’

‘I would say about a year.’

‘Your employment records should be able to tell us precisely.’

Werner shrugged. ‘We do not keep records for casual workers. Our sommeliers, our chefs and our professional waiters, yes, but not for what is, as I have said, casual labour.’

‘So there is no record of her working here?’

‘I don’t imagine so.’

‘Not even in the wages book?’

‘She’d have been paid out of petty cash. I paid her myself.’

‘Did you pay her on Friday?’

‘As well as I can remember, yes, I would have.’

‘Was she a good worker?’

Werner hesitated for a moment. ‘She was . . . diligent, never late for work. She was respectful. But she was clumsy. We had breakages, spillages . . . more than the average I would say.’

‘But you kept her on?’

Werner smiled. ‘I am, I think, a kind man. Ask any of the employees, they will say so too. But in fact I had decided to terminate her work here. Her attitude had become, shall I say, resentful, übelnehmerisch? And she had learned the basics of kitchen work. It was time for her to move on.’

‘Did she have any particular friends on the staff here? Or any enemies?’ Swallow asked. ‘Can you think of any reason why anybody would wish to harm her?’

‘No,’ Werner shook his head. ‘She did not . . . how do you say . . . socialise. The employees will go to the public houses if we close a little early sometimes, but not her. And I have no reason to think she had any enemies here.’

‘Who would have been the last person to see her leave here last night, Mr Werner?’ Swallow asked.