Which is how they came to be sitting in the Red Dragon.

‘You do like Chinese food don’t you?’ asked Maria after the waitress had seated them at their table. There was a worried note in her voice. Christopher seemed to be uneasy.

‘Yes. Love it. It’s just that…’

‘You don’t like it here.’

Christopher snapped out of his reverie and smiled at her. ‘Of course I do. I was just thinking about something somebody said to me, that’s all. It’s not important.’

‘Only Charlie was never fond of Chinese food. I suddenly wondered if…’

Christopher laid his hand on hers. ‘It’s fine. Don’t worry. I’ve heard a lot about the place and it’ll be good to try it out.’

After a glass of wine Maria began to relax. ‘I don’t remember the last time I came out to dinner. It’s not something we ever did. I suppose that’s why I got interested in cooking.’

‘Elizabeth David?’ He recalled the books on her shelf.

‘Yes. And others.’

‘I’ve always thought she must have been a bit scary. A bit of a man-eater by all accounts.’

Maria tried to suppress a smile. ‘It’s only the culinary techniques that are in the books, not tips on how to treat a man.’

Christopher laughed. ‘Tell me about Charlie.’

Maria’s smile faded.

‘Unless you don’t want to?’

‘No, it’s all right. Not much to tell, really. We married quite young. He was very attractive, very persuasive. In the end I gave in and we got married. Had two children. He was away a lot. Driving lorries on the continent. I suppose I realized something was wrong when his trips got longer and longer. When he came back he was with me in body but not really in mind. It’s funny, isn’t it?’

‘What?’

‘Men. How they think you won’t notice things.’

‘What sort of things?’

‘Oh, the fact that their mind is somewhere else. I mean, we’re not clairvoyant, but we can tell when something’s not right. By all those little things–telephone calls that you interrupt; when they say good-bye very quickly then put the phone down; when they go out for a paper at a strange time of day. That sort of thing.’

‘Yes.’

Then she said lightly, ‘I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have reminded me. I’m not really the suspicious type. Quite happy really. Quite straightforward. On an even keel. Most of the time.’

‘Do you miss the company?’ he asked.

‘Yes. Yes, I do. Not that I had very much of it.’ Then she stopped herself. ‘Listen to me. We came out to be together, not to talk about the past. But what about you?’

‘Oh, married to the job for thirty-odd years, married to a wife for twenty-odd. Job stayed, wife went, then job went. All a bit of a disaster really.’