"Pleasure to meetcha," she says automatically. "And I'm not sure Linda even works here. Somethin' about that cake feels like they mighta got it half off from the supermarket when Linda never showed."

The more she examines the situation, the more it feels like a set-up. The sheer level of disinterest is - provocative, that's the word. There's too much malice here to just be coincidence and low standards.

She can feel the nanochain like a rock in her belly as she thinks that.