With George and Daddy Pig ruled out, there was only Peppa left. It had to be her. She was the only one who had the intel on all the missions the Snake had ruined. She was the only one with a potential inside link to the Chinese delegation. We needed confirmation. Time was running out and we still had no idea how or when the Coyote would strike.

Naomi and Peppa were now speaking softly about lawyers and what lay ahead. Camilla and Kate were talking about her mother.

I looked over at Bella. Her dolly was on her lap as she continued to slop paint on her teapot. I just needed to get it away from her so I could make the swap.

Great. This was my life now. Trying to work out how to steal a three-year-old’s doll.

I went up to the café counter and ordered a selection of chocolate cupcakes. I placed them at the other end of the table to Peppa and Bella.

‘Kids, who wants a cupcake?’

Gigi and the twins leaned over and made a grab for them. Bella shot up from her chair, her doll falling to the floor under the table.

I walked back to my seat, leaning down to put my wallet back into my handbag on the floor. I scooped up Bella’s doll and switched it with Hoxton dolly from my bag.

Well done me. Maybe my next assignment could be taking candy from a baby.

Bella came skipping back to her chair, the chocolate cupcake she was holding already half-eaten.

She sat back down, chocolate smeared across her face.

‘I think this is yours?’ I looked at her, smiling as I waved Hoxton dolly at her.

Peppa looked up. ‘Ahh, yes, that’s hers. Thank you.’ Peppa reached across the table and took Hoxton dolly out my hand. ‘Bella, you mustn’t forget Dodo, you’d be so upset.’

The girl grabbed it from her and tucked it under her arm. She smelled its hood. She held it back and stared at it.

Here we were, the moment of reckoning.

‘Not Dodo.’

‘What? Don’t be silly,’ laughed Peppa. ‘That’s your Dodo. You just dropped her on the floor.’ I watched Bella feel for the worn patch and give it a little rub. She stared again at the doll.

‘Want more cake.’

We were OK.

Hoxton dolly had been accepted.

*

As mornings went it had been productive. Kate had confirmed our belief that all George was hiding was a wish for her to reconcile with her dying mother, I’d switched a girl’s beloved dolly with a fake, reinforced my deep loathing of soft play, and Gigi had created a teapot masterpiece for her doting grandmother.