Free The Dog Who Came in from the Cold by Alexander McCall Smith

take some ginkgo.”
    “It’s not funny. I’m cooking dinner for her. Here. And she’s gone to a party.”
    Dee’s instinct was to protect her flatmate. “Maybe I got it wrong,” she said. “I wasn’t really listening.”
    “Well, she’s not here, is she?” said James. “She’s stood me up.”
    “Oh come on, James. Anybody can get dates mixed up. I remember once—”
    James interrupted her. “Something that’s arranged a week or two ahead, yes, you can forget about that sort of thing if you don’t put it in your diary. But not the same day.”
    “Oh. Well,” said Dee.
    James looked at his watch again. “It’s really inconsiderate. I was going to cook something and then we were going to watch a DVD together.” He paused. “Are you doing anything, Dee?”
    Dee thought quickly. She would love to have dinner with James. She had nothing in the fridge except a small piece of cheddar and a tub of yoghurt. Anything would be better than that.
    “Not really. Why?”
    “I’ll take you out to dinner,” said James. “We could go to the Poule au Pot.”
    “The Poule au Pot!” She had walked past the restaurant many times but of course she had never been able to go inside. Dee was permanently hard-up, and a meal out, even in a much more modest restaurant, was a rare treat for her.
    “Yes,” said James. “Let’s go and see if they can take us. If theycan’t, I know somewhere else. There’s a really nice Greek restaurant ten minutes away. Would that suit you?”
    Anything would suit Dee, who felt only a slight pang of doubt as she went into her room to change. It’s her fault, she thought. She takes James for granted—anybody can tell. If he belonged to me, I wouldn’t do that. I’d spoil him. I’d do everything for him. I’d make him really happy.
    They left the flat and walked the short distance to the restaurant. It was not a busy night, as it happened, and a table was quickly found. They sat down, and James ordered a bottle of wine. Then, while waiting for their starters to appear, James said, “I’m really cross with Caroline, you know.”
    Dee looked around her at the room. She was basking in the pleasure of being out for dinner, in an expensive restaurant, with somebody as good-looking and as generally
nice
as James. She turned her gaze to him.
    “I don’t blame you,” she said quietly. “Poor you.”

16. England Expects William to
Do His Duty
    W HEN W ILLIAM AWOKE the following morning, he did so with the realisation that this was a significant day. But it was one of those realisations, only too common, when the actual reason for the day’s significance fails to come immediately to mind. So might a politician, on the morning of his inauguration into high office, awake with a feeling that something was about to happen, but, in that curious stage between drowsiness and full wakefulness, not remember what lay ahead; or so might a prisoner, facing release after long years of incarceration, forget that the front door to freedom would openfor him within hours. Yes, something important was due to happen, but what was it? It took a moment or two for him to remember: today was the day that he was due to meet his contact, following the instructions he had received.
    Ever since the surprise visit from Angelica Brockelbank, former bookshop owner and now employee of MI6, William had been puzzling over the implications of what she had said. Although she had not been reticent in admitting that she worked in intelligence, and had been direct in her suggestion that MI6 wanted William to do something for them, she had been coy about saying exactly what it was.
    “We can’t talk too openly here,” she had said, glancing about her at William’s kitchen, as if to imply that their conversation might be overheard.
    William had been tempted to laugh. “What do you mean by that?” he asked. “Are you suggesting my flat’s bugged?”
    Angelica looked at him with complete seriousness; she had not been