Hagget was a frustrated man in his late fifties, with the ambition to get to the top, but not the brain or the political cunning. He was out of the limelight here, and had no real way of getting back into the limelight; he was nothing more than a Transatlantic courier for Fifeshire, maintaining the front, giving operatives assistance, and clearing up the messes they frequently left behind. And no one had left a bigger mess than I had. I wondered if anyone had ever bothered to explain to him what it had all been about. From the tone of his voice, and from the lack of an offer of a Christmas drink, I had a feeling they hadn’t. It wasn’t my place to tell, even if I had had the inclination, and anyhow, I didn’t want to be late back to the hotel.

There was a knock on the door at a quarter past eight, and I went over to open it. Her Mystère de Rochas perfume plunged into the room ahead of her, through the keyhole and under the door. I turned the handle and pulled, and the perfume completely engulfed me. She stood there in a calf-length silver-fox coat, her neck loosely wrapped in a cashmere scarf, her hands in sensuous Cornelia James gloves and her legs in tall black boots. Her large brown eyes were opened wide, and her soft-red painted lips parted, and she leaned forward and kissed me on my lips for a long, long time; then she stood back and looked at me and grinned.

‘Want to come in, or shall we stay out here?’

She strode into the room and sat down in an armchair, put her arms around her chest and hugged herself. ‘Oooh, it’s good to be in the warm. It’s starting to snow.’ She looked up at me and flashed her eyelids. ‘Well, well, Max Flynn! Life is full of surprises.’

I poured her a glass of champagne and handed it to her.

‘I see,’ she smiled, ‘you’ve really laid on the works!’

‘Want to take your coat off and stay a while?’

‘I’m not going anywhere – I just want to get warm. Cheers!’ She took a sip of the Krug and took a pack of Marlboro out of her handbag. ‘Smoke?’

‘Thanks.’ I took one and held out a light.

She inhaled deeply and grinned. ‘Now, you’re one guy I really didn’t reckon I’d see again.’

‘You figured I’d be dead by now?’

‘No, I didn’t figure that at all. I just didn’t think I’d see you. I mean – there wasn’t any reason to, was there? We didn’t have anything going – you had a girl you were goggle-eyed over, and I was just your humble secretary.’

‘I fancied you like crazy.’

‘I knew you did – but you never asked me out.’

‘Things were very difficult then.’

‘Are they any easier now?’