Quickly she gathered her thoughts, covering her moment of hesitation by tidying the stack of papers before her. Then she rose from her seat and gave the brief report she’d prepared, speaking steadily and confidently. As she finished she looked around at the sea of faces. She couldn’t help but notice Frank, watching her with what seemed to be pride; despite her earlier intentions, she was buoyed by his approval. That’ll show him, she thought. Me, Kitty Callahan from Empire Street, standing up in front of all these important people, speaking in public. She almost pinched herself; for a moment it didn’t seem real. Then, as the chairman nodded to her, she took her seat once more. The chairman turned to his left and muttered something in the ear of the officer sitting just behind him. Gold braid flashed as the officer half rose. ‘Miss Callaghan, if I could trouble you for a quick word after the meeting.’

She nodded, but there was no time for any further explanation – they had already moved on to the next item. She forced her eyes to focus on the agenda, now covered in annotations and underlining.

It was another half an hour before the meeting dissolved for a tea break. She made her way to a bare side room, painted in institutional cream, following everyone else. Before she could join the queue for the hot drinks, the officer sidestepped her. ‘Miss Callaghan, a moment of your time.’

‘Of course,’ said Kitty, pushing away her alarm at being singled out.

‘Your report this morning was very informative,’ he said, his eyes crinkling in a friendly manner. She guessed he must be about forty, and evidently very senior in the service. ‘Our chairman thought you might care to share it with some of our communications officers who can’t be here in person. They are based near Holborn – I don’t know if you know where that is?’

Kitty nodded. ‘I was based in north London for some time when I first joined the Wrens,’ she told him. ‘I know most of the city centre quite well.’

‘Excellent,’ the officer said. ‘I believe one of my colleagues has suggested Lieutenant Feeny comes along as well, to give his view of the operations. We can arrange a lift for you, as Captain Harris has to attend a combined services meeting near there, but if you can find your own way back, that would be a tremendous advantage.’

‘That is no trouble at all, sir,’ said Kitty, careful that her face did not betray her true feelings. More time alone with Frank – but she’d coped with the long train journey down and so this would be bearable. She’d keep her mind on the evening to come, catching up with Laura.