There was a pause.
'He is very handsome,' said Bowden.
'Who?'
'Miles Hawke, of course.'
'Oh. Yes, yes, I know he is.'
'Very polite, very popular.'
'I know that.'
'A child without a father—'
'Bowden, I'm not in love with him and it isn't his baby – okay?'
'Okay, okay. Let's forget it.'
We sat there in silence for a bit. I played with a pencil and Bowden stared out of the window.
'What about the voices?'
'Bowden!'
'Thursday, this is for your own good. You told me you heard them yourself and Officers Hurdyew, Tolkien and Lissning heard you talking and listening to someone in the upstairs corridor.'
'Well, the voices have stopped,' I said categorically. 'Nothing like that will ever happen again.'17
'Oh, shit.'18
'What do you mean, "oh, shit"?'
'Nothing – just, well, that. I've got to use the ladies' room – would you excuse me?'
I left Bowden shaking his head sadly and was soon in the ladies'. I checked that the stalls were empty and then said. 'Miss Havisham, are you there?'19
'You must understand, Miss Havisham, that where I come from customs are different from your own. People curse here as a matter of course.'20
'I'll be there directly, ma'am!'
I bit my lip and hurriedly rushed out of the ladies', grabbed my Jurisfiction travel book and my jacket, and was heading back when—
'Thursday!' came a loud and strident voice that I knew could only be Flakk's. 'I've got the winner and his daughter outside in the corridor!'
'I'm sorry, Cordelia, but I have to go to the loo.'
'Don't think I'm going to fall for that one again,' she growled under her breath.
'It's true this time.'
'And the book?'
'I always read on the loo.'
She narrowed her eyes at me and I narrowed my eyes back.
'Very well,' she said finally, 'but I'm coming with you.'