He raised a hand to interrupt her. “Look, Mma, we’ve discussed that, and I’ve told you already. Do I need to spell it out again? Mma Potokwane has resigned, and that’s the end of that.”

“She did not resign,” said Mma Ramotswe. “She was dismissed.”

Ditso Ditso shrugged. “What’s in a word, Mma? Resigned, dismissed, retired; jumped, pushed, shoved out? All the same at the end of the day.”

“You can add to that list of words, Rra,” said Mma Ramotswe quietly. “Add: betrayed, destroyed, tricked.”

Ditso Ditso’s manner changed abruptly; gone was the earlier joviality. “Be careful what you say, Mma.”

“You be careful what you write, sir,” said Clovis Andersen.

Ditso Ditso spun his chair round. “You said something, Rra?”

“I said: be careful what you write. For instance, when you make a list of contractors’ estimates, make sure that you put on that list the name of the firm you eventually give the work to—otherwise it looks odd.” He paused. “More than that, Rra. It looks criminal.”

Ditso Ditso froze.

“So,” Clovis Andersen continued. “So you should be careful when you give a contract to your mistress’s brother. Especially if there’s one million pula difference between the prices. That looks like corruption, I’m afraid.”

“Yes,” chipped in Mma Makutsi. “That looks very like corruption, and corruption is something we don’t like in Botswana. Have you noticed that, Rra? Have you read in the papers about what happens to people who practise corruption? There are not many of them around because they are mostly in another place. And that is that place at the edge of the Village. You know that place, Rra? The place with the big fence around it?”

For a few moments Ditso Ditso was silent. He had now shrunk back in his chair and was looking down at his desktop. When he spoke, his voice was barely audible. “What do you want me to do, Mma Ramotswe?”

“I want you to look at me, Rra.”

He raised his eyes. It was clearly difficult for him to look directly at her, but she waited until he did so.

“Now, Rra, you have to call a meeting of the board. You have to tell them that you have let them down and you are resigning. You will say that you will be making a generous gift to the orphan farm to mark your time with them. Then you will withdraw your support for the hall project and tell them that it must be cancelled. You will then ask them to reinstate Mma Potokwane with immediate effect.”

He nodded. “I will do all that, Mma.”

“And there’s another thing,” Mma Ramotswe went on. “You will also say sorry, Rra. And don’t forget to do that—maybe it is the biggest thing of all.”