‘Sadly not,’ I replied with some regret. ‘Nesbit Value Brand.’

She shrugged, told me it couldn’t be helped and then walked in, quietly closing the door behind her. She took off her coat, dumped it on a nearby chair and jumped up to sit on the kitchen counter.

‘What do they call this?’ she said, tapping the work surface.

‘A peninsula, I think.’

I was no expert on kitchen furniture and was still confused over Aurora and Toccata’s insistence that they were two people.

‘Free-standing, it would be an island.’

She nodded thoughtfully.

‘I have one that connects from one side of the kitchen to the other,’ she said. ‘Would that be a kitchen isthmus?’

‘I’d say a counter.’

‘That’s what I thought. Isthmus would be more logical, though, don’t you think?’

‘I suppose, yes. Milk?’

‘You have some?’

‘Only powdered,’ I said, staring into the empty fridge.

‘That’ll do. Hey, listen: I heard you told the Chief we’d bundled.’

She said it as if it were possibly the funniest – and unlikeliest – thing she’d ever heard.

‘I had to say something,’ I replied. ‘She knew we’d met in the Wincarnis when I said we hadn’t, so I needed a good reason for lying.’

‘Did she believe you? I mean, did she think that the whole you and I scenario was plausible?’

‘I think so, yes.’

‘Ah,’ she said, deep in thought, ‘that says a lot about how she views me. But you kept your oath to me?’

‘I did. She had a message for you: Queen’s rook takes bishop’s pawn two – check.’

I didn’t think I’d repeat the rest of the missive.

‘What?’ exclaimed Aurora, and she reached into the folds of her jacket to produce a travelling chess set. She opened it, placed it on the counter and moved the pieces.

‘Damn and blast that woman to hell,’ she said. ‘Foiled. I think I may have to concede.’ She showed me the game. ‘What do you think?’

‘I’m not very good at chess.’

‘Nor me, it appears,’ she said, and snapped the set closed. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. She could tell something was troubling me.

‘What’s up, Charlie?’

‘Did you engineer the meeting with me in the basement yesterday morning?’

‘What possible reason could I have for doing that?’

‘I don’t know. Also: the lines were down to Cardiff so the stationmaster must have heard from someone on the train that I’d delayed it. Was that you?’