Both Spencer and Collins turned. Summers’ wife looked very glamorous herself, and at least twenty years his junior. She was also considerably taller than him, wearing a couture gown with her slender arm resting on her husband’s shoulder. Before they could remark on the photograph, one of the double doors into his office suddenly opened. Without having to be introduced, it was obvious from their physical resemblance that this was Max’s brother.

‘I can’t wait any longer, Max . . . I gotta get back to New York to organize the locations and cinemas. It’s a huge damned pain in the ass.’ His guttural New York accent was a stark contrast to his brother’s smooth English vowels.

Max stood up from behind his desk and held his hand out towards the new arrival. ‘This is my brother, Ivor. These gentlemen are here from the Metropolitan Police.’

Collins stood up to shake Ivor’s hand. ‘I’m Detective Chief Inspector Collins and this is my associate, Detective Sergeant Gibbs.’

Ivor was clearly considerably younger than his brother, with a full head of dark hair that looked as if it might have been dyed. It was swept back from his broad face, which was not yet as jowly as his brother’s. He was oddly dressed in a loose denim shirt with grey pinstriped trousers and two-toned shoes.

‘They are here about poor Charles Foxley,’ Max said.

Ivor raised both hands. ‘My God, that was shocking. Hard to believe. Even harder to believe you haven’t yet caught the bastard who did it. I’m telling you, if this was New York, they would’ve got him by now. If you want to know where I was when it happened, that’s it – New York.’

Max nodded. ‘And I was at a big charity dinner.’

Ivor perched himself on the edge of his brother’s desk. ‘It’s caused a major headache for us, I can tell you. The reason I’m here is because we’d organized a big premiere at Leicester Square with a ton of publicity. I’m gonna have to cancel everything. I’ll tell you, though, we’re going to dedicate this film to Charles Foxley.’ He gave a short, barking laugh. ‘It’ll probably be the best credit he ever got in his life.’

‘That’s unnecessary,’ Max said scowling.