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for the client,’ Linnet said. ‘Don’t worry.’
    And ten minutes later, with the accountant settled in his office, George returned to find that not only was the client happily leafing through brochures but the information the accountant needed was printed up and ready to take through. He felt suddenly that the placidity which was his normal response to life might one day come back to visit him.
    â€˜Maybe she won’t come back,’ George said, climbing wearily into bed. ‘Maybe she took one look at the mess I made of the printer and decided she’d rather scrub toilets.’
    But two days later, Linnet did come back for a meeting with Tina.
    â€˜Bloody hell,’ Tina said afterwards, ‘I only just stopped myself chaining her to the desk to prevent her leaving. Has she got a black belt in charm, or what?’
    â€˜See what I mean?’ George said, happy to find out that hard-nosed Tina could be as susceptible to charm in a woman as he was.
    â€˜No CV though,’ Tina said. ‘And only two references. Although I suppose that’s what you’d expect from someone who’s been looking after her mother for the last ten years.’
    â€˜I’ll check the references,’ George said.
    â€˜You won’t,’ Tina said. ‘I will. I don’t trust any man as desperate as you.’
    When she rang the first of the referees she found herself talking to a French restaurateur.
    â€˜Linnet?’ he said. ‘Oh you mean Chouette. I always call her Chouette. She is my darling of darlings.’
    â€˜Er yes,’ Tina said, ‘but can you tell me what capacity she was employed in, and how reliable she was?’
    â€˜She saved my life,’ the extravagant voice told her. ‘WithoutChouette I would be peeling potatoes still. I would be bankrupt. My friends would be weeping at my graveside …’
    When she put the phone down and sorted fact from hyperbole Tina decided that Linnet had been employed as a general business manager. She must have walked into a restaurant with absolutely nothing to recommend it but a talented, flamboyant and hopelessly disorganised chef. She set up a system which allowed it to flourish, and had a pudding called the Bombe Chouette named in her honour.
    â€˜So I asked why she left,’ Tina told George who was grinning from ear to ear. ‘And he said, I quote, “Oh but what more could she do? Ze seestem is fulepruf. She merst fly away.” ’
    In the end, it was George’s grin which made up Tina’s mind. She realised she hadn’t seen it for months, and she felt responsible.
    He said, ‘For God’s sake, Tina, let’s get Linnet in here and see if she can set up a “fulepruf seestem” for us. I’m tired of being worried to death.’
    â€˜And just hope she doesn’t fly away wiz ze petty cash?’ Tina said. ‘I’ll call this other referee first, if you don’t mind.’
    She called and reached a freelance photographer who was equally fulsome in his praise of Linnet.
    â€˜She put him on the map,’ Tina reported back to George. ‘It seems she was exceptionally good at getting him work. Oh, and did you know that she’s “remarkably photogenic”?’
    â€˜And did she fly away with the petty cash?’
    â€˜No,’ Tina admitted. ‘OK, OK, she’s a saint and a genius. But I can’t think of one good reason why a saint and a genius would want to work for us.’
    â€˜Can you think of a good reason why we shouldn’t ask her to?’ George said.
    â€˜I don’t want to pay anyone who’s more photogenic than I am,’ Tina said. ‘Oh go on, George, give her a tug. I know you’re dying to.’
    So Linnet Walker came to work for Cole-Adler Security, and George regained his good humour. He went back to being the kindly, placid, methodical George Tina relied on. He even looked younger. If