Jane rang the doorbell and waited. After three attempts the front door was eventually opened and Julia Summers, with her hair in giant rollers and wearing a terrycloth robe, appeared, looking surprised.

‘Good heavens! I didn’t think you would be here so quickly.’

‘I’m sorry, but as you mentioned you were going out to the theatre, I thought the sooner the better.’

‘Oh, absolutely. Do come in.’

The two-story mews house had a small narrow staircase. There was one large combined drawing and dining room, and a neat, compact kitchen. The interior was well decorated and furnished, but the place was a tip. There were old newspapers and food cartons everywhere, and clothes strewn on all the furniture. There were also a number of dead plants, and Jane could see dirty dishes stacked on all the surfaces in the kitchen.

‘Do you want a cup of tea or anything?’ Julia asked.

Jane shook her head and removed a large bundle of underwear from a chair to sit down.

‘Sorry about the mess,’ Julia said, waving her hand vaguely around the room. ‘I don’t have a cleaner anymore. She left without saying a word. I’m going to advertise for someone else but my roomie is just a student and hasn’t got much cash. She always accuses me of being untidy but a lot of this is hers. My father would have a fit if he came in. But I don’t see why I have to clean it if it’s not all mine.’

Jane nodded, trying not to look as appalled as she felt. ‘Absolutely.’

Julia perched on the edge of a cluttered sofa, slowly removing one large roller after another and shaking her silky blonde hair loose. Jane opened her briefcase and took out her notebook with copies of the pages that she had taken of the desk diary before she left.

‘I wonder if you could help me with this, Julia. There are a number of pages that have a lot of whiteout covering what was written underneath. I’ve listed the dates and I wonder if you could tell me what was originally there and explain why it was blocked out.’

‘Oh gosh, I can’t remember. I mean, I know why I used whiteout but I can’t really recall exactly what was written before, just that I was told not to put it in the agent’s diary.’

‘What were you told not to put in?’ Jane asked.

‘Well, when I’d been told there was a film premiere, you know, a first-night party for cast and crew, I was told by Mr. Foxley they would like four models, or sometimes two or six. So I had begun to write it down in the diary because I had been told to let Simon Quinn know what was needed and the location of the event.’

‘So when did you use whiteout to block these out?’