‘And is it sorted?’ Dee said.

The girl grinned.

‘Not by a long shot. All I want to do when I go back is save so I can do more travelling.’

‘How long have you worked here?’ Dee asked.

‘Ever since I arrived in the UK. Nick – that’s the landlord – is a friend of a mate of mine back home. Nick was looking for someone to help out during the summer months, so here I am. I got lucky, I guess.’

‘I’ve never been to Australia, but it’s definitely on my bucket list.’ Dee took a sip of her drink. ‘Decent wine. My name’s Dee, by the way.’

‘Josie,’ the woman said. ‘Good to meet ya, Dee.’

‘I think I may have met Nick,’ Dee said. ‘Was he working here yesterday afternoon?’

‘Tall, lanky bloke with glasses?’

Dee nodded. ‘That’s him, yeah. Was that his girlfriend working here with him?’

‘Girlfriend?’ Josie laughed. ‘Not sure his husband would be too happy to hear you thought that!’

‘My mistake.’ Dee smiled. ‘They seemed to know each other quite well. I guess I just assumed…’

She trailed off, hoping the girl would finish her sentence for her. She wasn’t disappointed.

‘Could have been Annie,’ Josie said. ‘And you’re right to pick up on the vibe between those two. They go way back. Friends from school, I think.’

The pub door swung open and Leonard appeared. Dee barely recognised him. He’d always been a thin man, but he’d lost so much weight since she’d last seen him, he was practically a skeleton. When he greeted her with a hug, it was like being embraced by a corpse.

‘Bloody hell, Leonard. I thought people put on weight when they stopped smoking.’

‘Food’s overrated,’ Leonard said. ‘See you’ve already got my order in. Thanks for that.’ He took the pint glass and lifted it to his lips, doing his best not to spill any before it reached his mouth. Not an easy task with a badly shaking hand. Thankfully, the shaking abated after a few more sips of beer.

Watching him, Dee felt a pang of guilt. She knew what loneliness and grief could do to a person. She should have made more of an effort to stay in touch with Leonard.

‘Decent boozer,’ he said, finally relinquishing his hold on the pint glass and setting it down on the bar. ‘I used to come here a lot back in the day. Had a few mates working for The Times. This was their local after Murdoch moved them all to Wapping. Come to think of it, isn’t there a beer garden out the back? Any chance we could sit out there? I could do with a bit of sunshine.’

They found a table outside and, once they were settled, Dee got down to the real reason she’d got in touch.