Tuesday, 21 July – 10 a.m.

‘Laurie. You rock that Lycra look. In the immortal words of Big Cook, you are “hot, hot, hot”. Did you wear it just for me?’

So much for being able to sneak in and change before anyone noticed her. Laurie should have guessed Nick would be here. He seemed to spend as much time leaning outside the front door nursing a cigarette as he did at his desk. Laurie could never have got away with that sort of behaviour, but then fee-earners always were cut more slack than support staff. Anyway, should she be offended by his remarks? She couldn’t be bothered; it was better, surely, to give as good as she got.

‘So, Nick, to all your other bad habits, do we now have to add a liking for children’s television? You are one sick individual.’

Nick smiled back, enjoying the banter. ‘I’ve got children, haven’t I? So how come you know Big Cook, Little Cook, then? Please don’t tell me you’re young enough to have watched it first time around?’

‘No.’ Laurie smiled. ‘Old enough would be more accurate. I do the recipes with my god-daughter. If you like I can sing you the song.’

‘Why spoil a wonderful moment? By the way, did you know you had a smudge on your nose?’

It was just as well Laurie was walking past Nick as he spoke. His comment immediately brought to mind an image of the man on the Tube platform, leaning across to talk to her and pointing at his nose just before he fell. As it was, she was able to go downstairs to shower and change and reflect that at least she knew now what he had been going to say. She arrived at her desk as composed as on any other day.

With Henry and most of the team on holiday there was little routine work to do, and certainly no prospect of overtime. Only one of Laurie’s nominal bosses was in the office. Michael was young enough to have grown up typing his own emails and had never shown the slightest inclination to use a Dictaphone. Did anyone under fifty? Nevertheless, he grunted assent when Laurie offered to do his filing, and even seemed mildly impressed by the energy she put into it. The work was hardly interesting, but it beat surreptitiously scrolling through Instagram until lunchtime.