Central, twenty-four, blonde, and mostly booked for the last evening of a trip, when the work is finished and the flight is not.

A final night has its own feeling: the meetings are done, the bags are half packed, and neither of you has to be sharp about anything in the morning. That is the evening she tends to be asked for. English, used in a straightforward way that suits two people who have been translating all week. She is a short distance from most rooms in the centre, so a message sent after dinner can still become an evening rather than a plan for tomorrow. She says what she does and does not do at the start, without ceremony, and that is the end of the subject.

Lucy decides which bookings she takes and may decline any of them; she sets the limits for what a session includes, says what they are, and may end a visit at any point, as the terms set out.