‘No. You took a right hook for him. I’d say it’s pretty even.’

That was what Kit had said too. They were entirely free of one another. Neither one of them was indebted.

She followed Matty over to a roulette table. The wheel was spinning fast, the ball jumping over the red and black pens, gilt numbers gradually becoming visible as it began to slow.

‘I’m going red,’ Matty murmured.

They watched the wheel stop. The ball on red.

Matty gave a delighted laugh. ‘Yes! I am feeling it! Come on, let’s play.’

They stood by the table. Matty put two chips on red 22. Clover put one across black 14 and red 9.

‘You can be a bit more daring than that, surely,’ Matty teased.

‘Let’s test the waters first.’

They watched the wheel spin round again.

Red 22.

‘Yes!’ Matty whinnied excitedly. Clover watched her chip – and one hundred euros – disappear; Matty received back six. She winked at Clover. ‘Again?’

‘Sure.’

They set down their chips at random.

‘Oh my god!’ Mats cried as her numbers came in again. ‘I’m on fire.’

A much older man to her right side looked her up and down with a concerned look.

‘Not literally,’ she reassured him, laughing harder and drinking some more champagne.

Clover drank too. Two chips and she was already crashing out. She had never liked gambling. It didn’t excite her to place her future in the hands of luck, or whim, or chance. She knew only too well what it felt like to lose everything at a stroke. It made her feel anxious and jittery. ‘I prefer blackjack.’

‘Then let’s play some of that,’ Matty said, gathering up her piles of chips.

They walked through the crowd, past heavily scented women and grey-haired men. There was a large crowd around the blackjack tables and they watched the action, enjoying the show put on by the dealer: the tapping of the table, flawless shuffling and breaking of the decks, hands as fluid as a magician’s. There was almost a carnival atmosphere as the game was played, people gasping and cooing according to the whims of the deck. One woman placed fifty thousand on a play – just like that – and lost it, giving the merest of shrugs and a serene smile.

Clover took a read of the room. As the minutes were ticking past and the champagne glasses steadily refreshed, she could see the tension gradually stiffening beneath sociable, good-natured smiles. Matty had been right – the house’s largesse had whetted appetites and things were beginning to get more serious, as players dipped deeper into their own pockets.