The lunchtime trade had gone, and there were just a couple of the regulars left in the tap room. Melissa went through to the lounge to clear the glasses. She took her portable radio with her. Eddie didn’t like her to have it turned on when they were busy, but it kept her company in the quieter periods. ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ was playing even though it was only November, and Melissa found herself humming along. The start of Christmas seemed to get earlier each year. Eddie had refused to even contemplate tinsel in the pub until the second week of December, but Melissa was hoping that she’d get to decorate the big tree that always stood in the corner of the lounge. She wasn’t quite sure what the pecking order was for the job, though. Maybe one of the more long-standing barmaids also had their eye on the task?

Melissa swept up the few remaining glasses, happily accompanying Chris Rea. She liked the idea of driving home for Christmas. It wasn’t something that she’d ever done, living all her life in the same place. She couldn’t even drive. But maybe one day . . .

Someone had left a copy of the Chronicle carefully folded open at the page they were reading. Melissa looked around, but there was no one to claim it. Whoever it belonged to must have finished with it. She picked it up. She’d have a flick through when she had her tea break. Melissa didn’t follow the news generally, but the local paper sometimes had things that interested her. As she folded it in half to slip into her jeans pocket, an image caught her eye. It was a man smiling broadly at the camera. He was holding a violin in one hand and shaking someone else’s hand with the other. He was wearing one of those long posh jackets with the silly tails. Her eyes flicked up to the headline.

‘New Leader for Apollo Philharmonic.’

She peered more closely at the grainy black and white photograph and then at the caption underneath. ‘Conductor Frazer Howard congratulates new leader Charles Montgomery Smith.’