He blinked in apparent confusion, before his expression hardened. Then he unhooked his dripping coat from the hatstand and brushed past me, exiting the office with a mumbled and gravelly, ‘Back soon.’ A second or two later, I heard the lift doors hiss open and shut.

‘Did you really just say cor blimey and shime?’

I turned to find Ruby standing behind me, smirking. ‘And what’s with the folded arms and legs astride?’ she asked, looking me up and down.

‘Didn’t you hear him?’ I gestured towards the corridor. ‘He suddenly started putting on a Cockney accent for some ridiculous reason – so I just joined in. And, even if I do say so myself, my effort was way better than his. He sounded like Prince William crossed with a Kray twin. Oh and he was trying to play the height card with me too. Amateur,’ I huffed.

‘He’s over six foot tall, Edie,’ she said, ‘and from Hackney,’

‘So?’ I made my way back to my desk.

‘So, short of shuffling around on his knees, he’s always going to be taller than you.’

‘You know exactly what I mean,’ I said, pulling out my chair. ‘It was his body language.’

‘And as for the accent,’ she continued, ignoring the interruption, ‘the clue is in the word Hackney.’

After a brief pause, I turned my head slowly towards her, my eyes widening as the significance of the location dawned on me. ‘Oh God, he’s from East London,’ I murmured, putting a hand to my mouth and recalling the details of Cameron’s CV: Hackney born and bred, UCL educated. I glanced uncertainly towards the corridor. ‘I’d forgotten. I thought he was trying to assert himself. You know, like when David Turner from planning makes eye contact and does that twitchy thing with his pelvis just before he sits down.’

‘Nope. That’s just how the guy talks.’

‘So why haven’t I noticed?’ I said, biting my lower lip.

She shrugged. ‘Well, you haven’t really had much to do with him, have you? And to be fair to you, the accent doesn’t often surface. I’ve noticed that it’s definitely way more pronounced when he’s stressed and on the back foot. Day-to-day he sounds pretty Home Counties.’

‘Oh no,’ I groaned, the thought that I had somehow managed to stress him out making me feel even worse. ‘He’s going to think that I was mocking his roots now, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, he is,’ she replied matter-of-factly. ‘Unless, of course, he thinks that was your Kylie Minogue impression. But either way, don’t feel bad about it,’ she continued, returning to her desk, ‘because it was really funny.’