‘Tuesday – no, Wednesday – before I contacted Gareth, anyway. You will have seen that the two presidents met in Paris. It was in all the papers. You can check it. Their chefs de cabinet accompanied them.’

‘Were you there?’

There was another hesitation. ‘Yes.’

‘Where?’

‘In the Élysée.’

‘What exactly did he say, the one who spoke?’

‘He said, “If the British will meet Barnier halfway we would, of course, tell him to do the deal.”’

‘Who did he say it to?’

‘The other one, the other chef de cabinet.’

‘And what did he say?’

‘He nodded.’

‘Is that all? He didn’t say anything else?’

‘They went into their meeting. I wasn’t included.’

‘What were you doing there?’

‘I was accompanying my boss. He attended the meeting. It was a private briefing for the two presidents on future EU strategy for dealing with the Eastern European countries. There has been no publicity about it.’

‘Who else was at the meeting?

‘I don’t know. I don’t know them all.’ There was a hint of exasperation in his tone.

‘Which of the chefs de cabinet said it?’ Both were well-known official figures and it wasn’t essential to know this, but Charles persisted because he wanted to condition Timber Wolf to never holding back on sourcing.

Timber Wolf again shook his head and smiled. ‘It is very difficult for me, this.’

‘I understand that, Eddie. But it’s also very important. I need to know.’ Charles raised his left hand. ‘You don’t need to mention a name. Just indicate whether it was the French – this hand – or the German.’ He held up his right hand alongside it.

Timber Wolf nodded at Charles’s right, saying nothing.

‘Thank you, Eddie. Thank you very much.’ It was time for another change of tack. ‘By the way – talking of Anne-Marie – I think Gareth wants to arrange an early Christmas lunch for all four of you before the Christmas rush starts, so long as Anne-Marie’s knee is up to it.’ This was a lie, intended to suggest normality and a future.

‘It will be. Ballerinas suffer many injuries in later life but they are also very resilient. Tell him we must fix it soon. Christmas lunch begins early in Brussels.’

‘I’m sure he’ll be in touch about it.’ He wasn’t, of course; it would depend on whether the case continued and, if it did, whether it included Gareth. And that would depend on what else emerged. So far it was inconclusive. There was no sign of the fabrications Sonia suspected; Timber Wolf really did seem to have the sub-sources Gareth said he had, even if he wasn’t accustomed to naming them. But Charles felt he couldn’t yet rule out exaggeration. He knew exactly how Gareth would write it up and imagined it for himself, making the whole thing more meaningful and clear-cut, thus more convincing, than it actually was: