‘Just making sure my leader is firing on all cylinders.’ Draper broke out her practised smile. She reached out and lightly touched Michael’s left forearm. ‘I just want to say, you were amazing yesterday.’

‘You said that yesterday, Jenny.’ Michael pulled back his arm. ‘And thanks. But you don’t need to repeat it.’

‘But I do, Michael. I kept replaying it in my head last night. What you did to White, especially with your hands tied by Simon’s instructions. It was amazing.’

‘The material was there.’ Michael was not being modest. Just honest. ‘If you gave it enough thought you could have done the same.’

‘Matthew Cole didn’t.’ Draper’s enthusiasm was not being dampened by Michael’s calm. ‘And he’s supposed to be, well, he’s Matthew Cole.

‘Matt had nothing to work with, Jenny.’ Michael was concerned. He had hoped that the presence of Cole – a much more prominent QC – would direct Draper’s attentions elsewhere. It did not seem to be working. ‘I’d have done no better than him if I was representing O’Driscoll. Matt’s client’s phone was on the scene the whole time. No way around that.’

‘You’re being modest, Michael.’ Draper would not be dissuaded. ‘What I saw yesterday? It was, well, it was powerful . . .’

Draper’s voice dropped as she spoke, her message clear.

She’s certainly confident, Michael thought. That’s a bad sign.

‘Look, Jenny,’ he began, choosing to ignore her open flirtation, ‘I like an ego boost as much as anyone, but trust me, this is still uphill. Cole knows what he’s doing, and Epstein wrote the book on prosecuting cases like this. We’re up against two giants. So let’s leave the congratulations until the end, eh?’

Draper looked into Michael’s eyes as he spoke, holding his gaze for a few moments once he had finished speaking.

‘OK,’ she finally said. ‘I get it. There’s a lot still at stake.’

‘There is. Remember, we still need Simon to take our gloves off with O’Driscoll. I can only go so far without him doing that.’

‘And that’s my job. I know.’

Draper was about to say more, but before she could speak again she was interrupted by the court’s speaker system.

‘The custodies from Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh have arrived. Any barristers needing to see their clients from Belmarsh are asked to attend the cell area now.’

‘And as if by magic,’ Michael said, nodding towards the Bar Mess loudspeaker.

‘Earlier than usual,’ Draper observed.

‘Then let’s take our luck where we find it. If you head down to the cells now you might get as much as an hour with him.’

‘You want me to go alone?’

‘I think it might be more productive, yeah. Just you and Simon. Lay it on thick, Jenny. Charm the life out of the kid. And make it clear how much you want us to win. Not me. How much you want us to be able to attack O’Driscoll.’

‘You really think it’ll work?’

‘I honestly have no idea. But we need it to. And we need it to work today. Time’s not Simon’s friend on this one.’