‘Wow, you’re right, he did,’ I said. ‘I guess I’ve just been completely wrapped-up in this since I got back.’ I jerked a thumb over my shoulder towards the drawings currently on-screen. ‘You know what I’m like once I get my teeth into something. But I must find time to ask him how he’s getting on.’

‘Hmm…’

I looked up to find her still staring at Cameron’s desk, her smile now replaced by a very definite frown.

‘What?’ I nudged her with my elbow.

‘Nothing, it’s just that he’s not the easiest guy in the world to connect with, so I wouldn’t feel too guilty about not getting to know him if I were you. I made a real effort and asked him to come for lunch a few times while you were away, but he said no. And I heard Roger offering to take him for a pint in one of those pensioner places he hangs out in, but again it was a no.’

‘So not a fan of socialising with work colleagues?’

‘I guess it depends on the colleague.’

I waited for further explanation, but all she offered me was a shrug. ‘Oh, come on,’ I wheedled, tugging at her dress. ‘Don’t leave me hanging. I hate being out of the loop.’

She hesitated for a moment, before bending down and, despite a total absence of eavesdroppers, lowering her voice. ‘It’s just that he’s keen enough to make a friend of Alison,’ she said, with a disdainful emphasis on the word. ‘While you were away, he was in her office more times than the rest of us put together, and an awful lot of their conversations out here were sotto voce.’

I laughed and reached up, placing a hand on each of her shoulders and giving her a gentle shake. ‘You’re not seriously trying to suggest that there’s something going on between them, are you? He’s only a couple of years older than us and, even if the twenty-year age gap between them wasn’t an issue, this is Alison you’re talking about.’

‘God, I’m not saying they’re having sex, Edie,’ she said, with a slight shudder. ‘I’m just saying that he has no problem chatting to the boss and, I might add, going out for a drink with the boss after work.’

I felt my eyebrows rise involuntarily.

‘Aha, yes,’ she said triumphantly, pointing at my wrinkled forehead. ‘Interesting, isn’t it? He’s happy to schmooze the woman who holds the purse strings and hands out promotions, but he won’t have a pint with the hoi polloi.’