‘Wow, that’s very kind of you,’ Leticia said. It was clear that Verity was already a little bit tipsy, but if that meant she would confide in her that was no bad thing. Leticia was far from sure that she was ready for such a hefty promotion, and her face must have reflected that.

‘No, I mean it.’ Verity leaned close until Leticia could smell the wine on her breath. ‘That little slip-up with you-know-who seems largely to have bypassed our department, I’m glad to say. Bloody Parole Board got it in the neck, if the newspapers are anything to go by.’ She laughed.

Verity was called back to the bar. Two men from the private-sector probation firm downstairs at Swan House were well down the cava, and were clearly interested in her.

Leticia was drawn away by Tina. ‘I can’t believe this,’ she said. ‘Verity is like a new woman.’

‘I suppose she’s just delighted to leave,’ Leticia said. ‘She was under a lot of pressure, and it’s a clean start for her.’

Tina nodded. ‘So maybe she’s not pregnant then. Maybe it’s just the eating disorder.’

Leticia glanced at Verity, still as thin as a rake. ‘Perhaps. She’d be too early to show, but sickness is worst in the early months.’

‘Yes, but she wouldn’t be taking another job just to go straight on maternity leave would she? There’s no better way to get off to a bad start with a new employer.’

Leticia shrugged and turned back to watch Verity, who was clearly flirting with one of the men.

‘Well, there are a lot of firsts today,’ Tina said.

‘Drinks, cake. What else?’ Leticia asked as she sipped her cava.

‘Men, at least in public.’

‘Did you ever meet her ex?’

‘No. But I heard the arguments on the phone, before Verity got her glass box. Now she just rows with her mother.’

Leticia nodded. Tina leaned in to her ear and whispered: ‘Her older brother disappeared when she was young. Never been seen since. Her parents’ marriage broke up, and she and her younger brother don’t really get on.’

‘All that and a bad divorce,’ Leticia said.

The evening wore on. Eventually, at nine, Tina announced she was heading home. Leticia was tempted to follow suit but then thought of her empty flat. Anton would be at the restaurant for hours yet; he rarely got in before one a.m. Jill Allsop had been and gone, and the two hunky guys from downstairs had disappeared too. Verity was leaning on the bar, talking with two women and a guy who were dressed as if heading for a nightclub. Leticia was pretty sure they were nothing to do with the probation service, but they seemed happy enough to guzzle Verity’s cava.