So, he does not point out, is Lavender. Jim is rather more discriminating in that department than Matilda is.

When they emerge into the carpark, they are not the only people out there. The fight in the lobby has been hard to miss. Some people are fleeing, others trying to hash out what's going on. Jim slows to let Jenny catch up with him, assuming an anxious mien, and puts a protective arm around her.

"Try," he says under his breath, "to look very much like you want to get the hell out of here."