Two mugs of tea sit on the small, foldaway table and the director is swigging from a bottle of non-alcoholic beer.

‘What was all that about?’ Liam opens the questioning.

Amaro shrugs nonchalantly, takes a swig from his bottle.

‘I need realism. Audiences are smarter than ever, they can sense if something isn’t a hundred percent genuine. George is a good actor, but in that scene, he’s just found out she’s been cheating on him. Did you see him? He was wheeling her round like a fucking collectable. No-one is going to believe that.’

Liam and I cast a sideways glance at each other.

‘I was just trying to show everyone what it needed to look like,’ Reuben sighs, contemplatively. ‘Maybe I went a bit far. I didn’t mean to knock her head against the wall, I should have warned her.’

So he’s not a total monster, I think.

‘Mr. Amaro, do you know why we are here?’ Liam asks.

This question is met with a snort of derision. ‘I might have an inkling. Why did you have to come onto the set though?’ he whines. ‘You know this is getting out onto social media as we speak. And Jay isn’t going to be happy.’

‘Jay?’ I ask.

‘My boss. He’s the executive producer, the man with the money. I imagine he will have something to say.’ I neglect to tell him that Jay, who is presumably the loud-mouthed American, has indeed already had something to say.

‘Look, Reuben, we only care about finding out what happened to Anna. Why don’t you tell us about Friday night?’

‘Friday night…’ he trails off.

His fingers pull at the label on his bottle, creating a little pile of discarded paper on the carpeted floor. I don’t take my eyes off him.

‘On Friday night,’ he says after a prolonged silence. ‘My friend Ed and I met in a bar near Manchester for a bit of a business meeting.’

‘Odd time for a business meeting,’ comments Liam.

‘I use business meeting loosely. We have a joint event coming up next week and we were discussing the format. It was the only time we were both free and in the area. Thought we’d do it over a beer.’

‘So why did you invite Anna?’

He looks confused. ‘Why would I invite her? I haven’t spoken to Anna in years, not since…’

‘Since your affair?’

‘Ha! Hardly an affair,’ he snorts. ‘We fucked a few times. Her and her boyfriend, I want to say Ryan…’ The intonation of his voice rises during the last part of the sentence, making it sound like a question.

‘Rory,’ I interject.

‘That’s it,’ Reuben says, picking up the story, ‘she and Rory were having a hard time and I was having a dry spell. We were on set together and got involved. I didn’t feel good about it, but… you’ve seen her,’ he flashes a wide grin, looking at Liam. ‘Who’s gonna say no to that when she’s throwing it at you?’