He stood to catch his breath, with one hand leaning on the stairwell banister. It was a long way to come to be foiled by a glass door. He looked through to the corridor behind the door, both sides of which were punctuated with doors through to offices with walls garlanded with HSE posters and performance graphs stuck to cork boards.

There was a man standing near the door, playing with his phone. When Priest tapped on the glass to attract his attention, he turned, startled. He had a juvenile face and greasy hair.

Ah, excellent. An apprentice.

Priest pointed to the black fob reader on his side of the door. It took the apprentice a few moments to register what Priest was insinuating but eventually he sidled over and opened the door cautiously.

‘I’m not supposed to let anyone through this way,’ he explained.

‘No, quite right, too,’ said Priest, putting a trusting hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘Can’t be too careful, can we?’

‘You don’t have an ID badge, sir,’ the apprentice pointed out.

‘Also, correct. Hence why I needed your assistance to open this door.’

‘I see,’ said the apprentice, although his expression suggested that he had been presented with a dilemma.

‘Could you tell me where I can find Jessica Ellinder’s office, please?’ Priest asked, gently leading the apprentice down the corridor with his arm.

‘Well . . .’

‘It would be most helpful. As you no doubt have surmised, I am unfamiliar with the building, this being my first day and all.’

‘Oh.’ The apprentice looked uncertain. For a moment, Priest thought he might have overcooked it, but then the apprentice seemed to perk up. Perhaps Priest’s explanation had registered with him as plausible. ‘You’re new here? Like me. I started last week.’

‘And yet already you conduct yourself in the manner of a veteran executive!’

‘I just help out in the archive room mostly. I had to take tea to the board meeting earlier. Miss Ellinder’s office is down here but she’s in the meeting with the rest of them at the moment. Are you OK to wait in her office?’

Priest smiled. ‘That would be most agreeable.’

*

Georgie felt like someone had taken her head off and replaced it the wrong way round.

In one respect, Charlie’s secret collaboration with the chair of the Elias Foundation Board of Trustees was welcome news. She now understood that there was a bigger plan and the ethical problem posed by Priest & Co.’s involvement with the potential downfall of the Foundation had been straightened up.

In another respect, the news was a chilling reminder of the precarious walk across the burning tightrope they were all facing.

She had got over the fact that Charlie had only just told her. He was in charge and if he thought that she should have been in the loop earlier then he would have let her in.