‘She,’ said Kerry, raising a finger. ‘He is a she – and she is really bad. You couldn’t meet a nicer guy than Ron, but she’s made him feel unwelcome from day one; cold-shouldering him, barely saying hello. She sounds like a complete cow, and it’s really grinding him down.’ She chomped angrily on her last tomato. ‘Anyway, he offered to help her with something this evening and she just threw it back in his face. Basically told him to get lost. Why? Why be like that?’

She seethed on and, as she spoke, I listened and nodded along, repeating her words slowly back to myself, trying to divine the hidden meaning which I sensed was there, but which, thanks to God knows how many red wines, was currently eluding me. Meanwhile, the prickling disquiet had now been joined by a growing, and unmistakeable, sense of impending doom.

‘I know I shouldn’t get so wound up about it,’ Kerry was saying, tutting at herself. ‘He’s a grown man and can handle his own problems. But it’s the same as if someone was picking on Giles. Ron is so lovely and he’s made a real effort with this woman – same as he has with everyone in the office – and to think that she’s just being so horrible to him, day in, day out…’

‘Awful,’ I murmured absently. ‘Poor Ronald.’

Her frown lifted and she laughed explosively. ‘Ronald? Where did you get Ronald from?’

‘Well, Giles…’

She placed a hand on my arm, still laughing. ‘Ah, bless. Is that what Giles thinks his name is? That’s so funny. Wonder if he’s called him Ronald to his face yet.’

She looked towards the kitchen and then back at me, at which point her smile vanished. ‘God, are you OK, Edie?’ she asked anxiously, gently touching my cheek with her hand. ‘You’re not going to throw up, are you? Can I get you some water? Do you want to sit down?’

Ignoring her increasingly panicked enquiries, I instead gazed blankly at her, as the facts buzzing round my inebriated brain finally managed to arrange themselves into a logical conclusion.

‘Is his name…’ I began quietly, before taking a sip of wine as my dry mouth refused to co-operate further. ‘Is his name Cameron? Cameron Grange?’

She stared up at me and I watched as the same realisation which had dawned on me just moments earlier, now dawned on her.

‘Shit,’ she breathed.

‘I found him! Here he is!’ Giles bounced up to us. ‘The evening is complete!’

Kerry and I gazed at each other, saying nothing.

‘What’s happened?’ asked Giles. I felt his hand on my shoulder. ‘Edie, whatever’s wrong?’

‘Nothing,’ I murmured, turning slowly towards him, ‘but I’d like to leave now.’