‘Neither of them. I floated the idea to Sir Alan and he expressly forbade it.’

‘You’ll get fired, whether you succeed or not.’

‘Probably. But I’m doing this for Rav and I can live with the consequences. If I don’t, there’s the very real chance that our prime minister will get away with murder.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘No. I go alone. It’s the only chance I have of getting what I need.’

‘Well, I’ll travel with you at least as far as Finland, like last time.’

‘They’ll fire you, too.’

‘No, they won’t. I’ll threaten to sue Ian for sexual harassment. And, anyway, I couldn’t care less.’

‘I’m going to book myself on the morning BA flight to Helsinki. Do not tell another soul, Julie.’

‘You are stark, staring mad, but perhaps that’s why I like you.’

Suzy had arrived back in the office during the tail end of that conversation and was looking at them quizzically. Kate debated what they should tell her and decided that nothing was the only sensible answer.

Eventually, Suzy could restrain herself no longer. She knocked and came in. ‘Anything I can help with?’ she asked.

‘I had lunch with C,’ Kate said. ‘We were just talking about it. He says Meg Simpson is not inclined to write that letter. So this will have to go back into the long grass.’

Suzy looked personally affronted. ‘Surely she has to write it.’

‘Politicians don’t have to do anything.’

‘What are her reasons?’

‘The risk that we’re being played. She wants more evidence that what Mikhail says about the changing of the guard in Moscow Centre is true. Without it, she won’t take the risk.’

‘So how do we get that?’

‘C is talking directly to Andrew in Moscow. We’ll have to see what he can find out, but time is not on our side.’

Perhaps it was the effects of lunch, but Kate felt overwhelmed by fatigue. She sat down at her desk and faced her computer, which was intended as a clear signal to Julie and Suzy that this audience was over. They took the hint.

Kate struggled to think clearly about what she needed to do. Her mind seemed shrouded in fog. She closed her eyes, but that didn’t improve matters. All she could think of was her overwhelming desire to lie down in the corner of her office.

She stood again and went along to the Ladies at the end of her floor. She glanced at herself in the mirror. She looked about sixty.