‘You haven’t eaten,’ Kate called after her. But Fiona was already halfway across the terrace. ‘We’re leaving in five minutes!’

‘Well, does he?’ Gus asked, once his sister had gone. In contrast to Fiona, his cheeks were becoming chubbier by the day and the pudding-bowl haircut he’d instructed her to carry out wasn’t helping matters.

‘Not so far as we know,’ Julie said.

Gus glanced at her, then returned his gaze to his mother. ‘But you said you can’t ever get back together with him, so why would it be a big deal?’

Neither Kate nor Julie answered that. What could you say? Gus pushed himself to his feet. ‘I’m going for a dump,’ he announced.

‘It’s just the way you tell ’em,’ Kate said, as he departed. ‘I hope time spent with my children is proving a useful contraceptive,’ she told Julie.

‘Don’t be so hard on yourselves. You’ve all got every reason to be tense.’ Julie absent-mindedly tucked into a second croissant. She ate as she drank, as she lived, really: with an easy nonchalance.

‘Have you got a cigarette?’ Kate asked.

‘I thought you said not in front of the children?’

‘Well, they’re not here, are they?’

Julie retrieved a packet of Winston’s from her bag and threw them across the table. Kate took one, lit it and waved at the waiter, who reluctantly changed course and swung towards her. ‘Yes,’ he said abruptly. The Venice Charm School had worked a treat. She ordered another coffee.

‘Because that will definitely help,’ Julie said.

Kate inhaled deeply and leant back to face the Grand Canal. A half-empty vaporetto glided past in the direction of the Rialto bridge. The mist had reached the dome of Santa Maria della Salute and was now curling up into a clear blue sky. ‘How are you feeling?’ Julie asked.

‘I’m not entirely sure. Nervous. Angry. Raw. Upset. Take your pick.’

‘Do you have any idea what he has been up to in Moscow?’

Kate shrugged. Since she had discovered that her husband had betrayed not just their marriage but his country, she’d had no direct contact with him. After his defection, all communication had been routed through a consular official at the British Embassy in Moscow.

‘Does he have a girlfriend?’

‘I should think so, knowing him.’

‘What will you say to him?’

‘Nothing. What is there to say?’

‘“You fucking bastard.”’ Julie smiled. ‘That would be a start.’

‘I said that already.’ Kate took another quick puff and stubbed out the rest of the cigarette. ‘Come on. We can’t put this off any longer.’

Kate went to brush her hair and touch up her face. She studied herself in the mirror, concluding she’d aged at least a decade in considerably less than a year. She sat on the bed, stared at the ornate ceiling and closed her eyes. This hotel had seen better days and she knew that feeling. The knot of tension in her stomach had been steadily tightening ever since she’d boarded the plane at Gatwick.