A Voss and Pike Casefile
Section 28: The Interval
"I went up at the interval to thank him," said Anisa. "The corridor to the boxes. Five past nine, near enough, just as the interval started." She frowned, working at the memory. "There was a woman talking to the usher who was carrying the tray. Older, very upright. She said something like, 'Sir Edwin's water wants freshening. I'll see to it.'"
"What did the usher do?"
"Handed it over. Like that." She snapped her fingers. "Didn't even blink. She spoke like the BBC in 1960 and stood like a rule. You'd have done what she said as well."
Jonah looked up from his notebook. "Rational-legal authority. She didn't have a badge. She had the voice."
"Did she say who she was?"
"She didn't need to."
At the interval, an upright older woman with an old-fashioned accent took over the water tray meant for Box Four from an usher, saying it "wants freshening". The usher obeyed instantly, on the strength of her manner alone.