‘How the other half live, eh?’ I say, as we climb out of the car and begin our ascent up the driveway, edging past a sleek sports car which seems to impress Liam.

Reaching the top, I disregard the doorbell and, instead, rap the hard wood three times. After a minute or so, there is movement in the house before the door opens, revealing a bleary-eyed Ed. Dark rings under his eyes make it look like he hasn’t slept in a week. His hair looks different from the other night at the book shop, though I can’t quite put my finger on why.

He picks up an oversized hoodie that was hanging over the bannister and throws it on, pulling the hood over his head. Baggy jogging bottoms, torn at the bottom, trail on the floor, covering his bare feet. He stares at us for a few seconds before recognition slowly spreads across his face.

‘Shit, sorry… yeah,’ he mutters, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. ‘Come in, come in.’

He opens the door wide and Liam and I step over the threshold, removing our shoes and setting them on a mat just inside the door.

He shuffles ahead of us, down the wide hallway and enters a room on the right. We follow him into the living room, where he has thrown himself onto a leather sofa, leaving two matching chairs for Liam and me.

The room is sparsely decorated; a huge flat-screen television is mounted above a marble fireplace which has a number of trophies from literary events placed upon it, an overflowing bookshelf takes pride of place along the back wall and a small drinks cabinet serves as a table in the middle of the room.

He takes our drinks order and works his way out of the deep sofa with a soft groan and leaves the room. When he returns a few minutes later, he hands me an overly milky tea and Liam a small glass of water, before easing himself back onto the sofa. ‘So, officers, how can I be of service?’ he smiles.

‘Can you run us through the night of Anna’s death?’

‘Straight to the point,’ he nods. ‘Well, Reuben and I decided to meet in Altrincham to do a bit of preparation on our, as it turned out, doomed event. He lives there and I live close by, so it made sense. We needed to sort a running order and write a basic script. So we met in a bar, did a bit of work, and then Anna showed up with her friend. Her friend didn’t stay long because she pulled some guy and left, so Anna joined us at our table. Reuben didn’t seem too pleased; they had a bit of history you see? Which I assume you know about.’

Neither Liam nor I respond, so he continues.

‘She got drunk pretty quickly so we decided to get her home. Unfortunately, she couldn’t verbalise where she lived so Reuben said he’d take her to a hotel. I offered to help but he said he was fine so I got a bus back here.’