‘Rory, we have CCTV footage of her leaving a bar in Altrincham at around 12:30am. She leaves with two men and appears to be extremely intoxicated. Sorry to have to tell you this,’ I say, sincerely.

He looks angry, whether it’s at me for breaking this news to him or at Anna for deceiving him, I can’t be sure. I push the printed CCTV images in front of him. He glances at them. If he was angry before, he’s apoplectic now.

‘Is this a fucking joke?’ he shouts, pushing himself to standing whilst sending the chair crashing into the wall behind.

‘Rory, do you recognise these men?’ I say.

‘That fucking bitch! I can’t believe she’d fucking do this to me.’

He snatches the piece of paper off the desk and looks at it again before slamming it back down on the table. The anger rages in his eyes, he’s looking at the photos like he could burn a hole in them. Slowly, rage turns to hurt. He picks the chair up, falls back into it and starts to sob.

‘Rory,’ I repeat, ‘do you know these men?’

He blows his nose on a tissue and takes a sip of water, composing himself.

‘Only one of them,’ he gets out eventually, his voice now small. ‘The taller one is that fucking director she had an affair with. The one who directed Blood Ice.’

4

The windscreen wipers are fighting a losing battle against the lashing rain as we crawl along the motorway.

‘Shall we stop at the next services?’ asks Liam. ‘It’s getting a bit hard to see what’s in front of us.’

‘Yeah, I guess so. We’re about half way to Conwy anyway. We could grab a coffee and look at what was sent through this morning. What time is it?’

‘Just coming up to eleven. Oh, you might be on the news,’ he says, adjusting the volume of the radio above the din of the hammering rain.

The fast-paced rock song finishes with the singer’s abrasive bark, and the jingle for the news starts.

From the news centre at eleven, my name is Craig Myers. Police have launched a murder investigation after finding the body of British actress, Anna Symons. Her body was found yesterday. No arrests have been made and police are urging members of the public who may have seen Anna in Altrincham on Friday night to get in touch. Anna starred in many Hollywood films, including The Mistress and Blood Ice though she may be best known for portraying Detective Francesca Uro in the long running BBC series Dust. Our thoughts are with Anna’s family at this time. Vauxhall say they have made the tough decision…

Liam turns the volume down.

‘Not even name checked,’ he teases.

‘I’m just pleased they didn’t use the audio from the presser,’ I reply, ‘I hate hearing my voice played back. We’ve had quite a few calls in response to the press conference though, from people in the bar when Anna arrived. From what I’ve heard, she was sober when she came in and was happy to have pictures with anyone who wanted one. She was in good spirits and had a few drinks, danced for a while. Apparently, she became intoxicated quite quickly and left with two men; one of whom has been confirmed as Reuben Amado, the director of Blood Ice.’