‘Water, thank you,’ I said, trying to smile. Lily went to a water cooler in the corner of the office area and filled two small plastic cups.

‘So you used to work for Peloton?’ Pierce asked. ‘And now … the police?’

‘Yes!’ Lily said, as if she could hardly believe it. ‘On the media side, handling things like this.’

‘So this fire is a PR problem, is it?’

‘No problem at all,’ Lily said, easy and relaxed. She handed me a cup of water, smile unfaltering. ‘Our support is there to free up police and fire personnel so they can keep on keeping us safe, and that’s what’s really important, isn’t it? But we prefer to think of ourselves as working on behalf of the event itself.’

‘The fire?’

‘The event. We prefer to see it as an event like any other kind of event we might handle – just like a product launch or an exhibition, for instance.’

‘It’s a fire,’ Pierce said, with a disbelieving half-chuckle. ‘A big fire. Not a … gallery opening or a new magazine.’

‘Ha ha, yeah,’ Lily said cheerfully. ‘Well, we’re not promoting it, as such. We’re not saying, “Hey, come and look at this.” Because you shouldn’t. The advice is to stay away. But asking people to come to something and asking them to stay away aren’t so different. It’s all about managing perceptions of the event. Promotion isn’t the sum of what we do. We’re also here to make sure that the event is portrayed accurately and fairly – to dispel myths and calm fears. To put the event in the right light.

‘Because,’ she continued, ‘it’s more than a fire, isn’t it? There’s the spontaneous early combustion of a quantity of petroleum products, sure – and, about that, it’s important to be clear, they were always going to be combusted, it’s all a matter of context and scheduling. But the event also includes the vital, vital work of our emergency services, and the economic ramifications, and the contribution presently being made to London’s atmosphere.’

‘That’s the part I’m interested in,’ I said. ‘The smoke column. Is it dangerous?’

Lily’s smile was indulgent. ‘Londoners have absolutely no reason to be alarmed.’

Pierce leaned in. ‘That’s not a “no”, though, is it?’ he said. ‘If it wasn’t harmful, why should people stay away? Why would it need a PR team?’

The gearshift in Lily’s attitude was barely perceptible, but it was there. Outwardly, she smiled the same smile she had been smiling the whole time, a smile that seemed directly connected to a deep pool of honesty and compassion. But to me it had been reassuring and, perhaps, a little condescending – a sales or service smile. To Pierce it was less mollifying and more engaged – a smile of respect, of professional speaking to professional.