She nodded quietly to herself and then held up a gold-edged gift certificate with a lot of zeros on it.

‘Then you won’t want the ten-thousand-euro reward?’

I felt, all of a sudden, conflicted. It would pay for Birgitta to see Springrise, but it somehow didn’t seem right taking it. I had an idea.

‘Can we assign it to Fodder? I think he wants to take a couple of years’ sabbatical and doesn’t have a lot of cash.’

Toccata stared at me for a while.

‘It wasn’t Debts and Nesquik that carried the truce, was it?’

‘No, ma’am.’

She pushed the certificate across the desk.

‘Sign it on the back.’

I did so and my obligation to Fodder, I felt, was at least partly resolved.

‘Now,’ said Toccata, ‘I suppose you’re wondering why I’m being so nice to you?’

To be honest, I hadn’t actually noticed.

‘It’s because you don’t work for us any more. I’m only hideously offensive to my own.’

I thought this might be about Aurora having completed my job application without my say-so, but it wasn’t.

‘Here,’ she said, passing me a fax. ‘Looks like your Acting Sector Chief has requested me to return you to Cardiff. They’re short staffed there, too. Unpaid leave can commence immediately; you can sit out this storm in the safety of the Siddons and once the weather breaks Jonesy will run you into Hereford and you can ride the Railplane home.’

I read the fax. It was from Vice-Consul Pryce and made reference to Logan’s death ‘at Aurora’s hands in the defence of Novice Worthing’, so at least I wasn’t being held to account for that.

‘Goodbye, Worthing. I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure – but I can’t.’

I paused. Sure, this was a far riskier place than Cardiff what with volatile Chief Consuls, homicidal HiberTech agents, Wintervolk and the subzero temperatures. But I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather be. Besides, there was Birgitta. Sure, she might be only three jam doughnuts from turning cannibal, but she was still my responsibility.

‘I’d like to stay, ma’am.’

Toccata’s eyebrow twitched.

‘You don’t want to be in Sector Twelve, I don’t want you in Sector Twelve. You’re a liability and a wild card and trouble seems to follow you like a homesick spaniel. And you’re bundling with Aurora, and no one who ever did that came to anything but grief.’

‘No, really, I feel at home here. First time since leaving the Pool. First time ever.’

‘You’re breaking my heart. Okay, let me spell it out: you’re fired. You’ve been lucky so far, but that’s going to run out, and when it does you’ll be taking good agents with you.’