FOSTER ENJOYED THE drive back to the hotel. Abbot was riding shotgun and Keller had strapped herself into the back. The skies had cleared and the summer rain was starting to steam off the tarmac. Keller’s new-found strength was invigorating and his mood had lifted.

‘One of us can stay with you at all times over the next couple of days,’ he told her. ‘Once you’re on the court you’ll be exposed, obviously, but I can reach you in seven seconds if I’m sitting in the front few rows.’

‘Don’t you take me off the court,’ Keller warned him as they thundered under the railway bridges at Vauxhall. ‘Not in the final. I’m going to win this for Maria.’

Foster locked eyes on Keller in the rear-view mirror.

‘If you’re in danger, I couldn’t give a damn about Maria Rosario’s legacy, or your prize money, or anything else. I’ll drag you off that court, if it’s the right thing to do.’

At Foster’s request, Abbot kept his eyes on Keller all afternoon. She spent most of the time in her suite, calling her family and arranging her travel plans for after the final. Then she dedicated some time to a few more episodes of Better Call Saul. She educated Abbot as they went along, explaining Breaking Bad back-stories about Walter White and people cooking meth in their underpants.

Foster needed some space to think, so he drove over to the quiet solitude of Highgate Cemetery. The skies stayed blue and the warm sunlight threw sharp, contrasting shadows over the white-marble carvings. Angels looked down on him and the breeze carried the sounds of songbirds and tousled the creeping ivy, as unchecked nature slowly claimed the stone back for itself. If there was a definition of peace, this was it.

The gravestone stood testament to his royal client’s gratitude for saving his life three years ago. But it didn’t change the fact that Elaina was gone. He rested his back against the cold stone and closed his eyes, talking to her about the list of things that had happened since he last visited. He didn’t bring flowers, because he couldn’t bear the thought of them slowly decaying, the way every beautiful thing in nature eventually did. Besides, he had given Elaina flowers so rarely when she was alive that any overblown gesture now would make her spirit suspicious. With good reason, he thought, as his mind turned to Kirsten Keller.