‘Pregnant? Are you telling me she is pregnant? The stupid fucking bitch. I’m not having a go at you, but for Christ’s sake. She’s done this on purpose, or the stupid son of a bitch of her husband has got her pregnant, and he’s the fucking director!’

Jane looked at Spencer as Bergman continued his rant.

‘We only got the movie financed because his wife was going to star in it. He probably got her up the spout intentionally because he couldn’t face working with her. Now the whole deal could go up in smoke.’

At that moment a slim young man scurried out of the office, closing Bergman’s door behind him.

‘Angie just called and told me you want to meet John. He’s in the office at the end of the corridor.’

‘And you are?’ Jane asked.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, I’m Simon Quinn. I’ve only just started working here. If you want to talk to me, I’m in that annex down there.’ He pointed to an office partition. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a large Duran Duran logo on the front, a black waistcoat, pale blue skin-tight jeans and trainers. He appeared to be in his early twenties.

As Jane and Spencer headed down the corridor, there was a muffled scream from Bergman’s office.

‘Bloody madhouse,’ Spencer muttered under his breath, knocking on John Nathan’s door. It was opened almost immediately. Compared with everyone else they had met so far at the agency, Mr. Nathan looked out of place. He wore an ill-fitting grey suit, white shirt and tie. He had thin, wispy hair with a receding hairline, and wore gold-rimmed glasses.

‘I was expecting you,’ he said quietly, and closed the door behind them.

The office had banks of files from floor to ceiling against every wall, and the floor was covered with cardboard boxes containing scripts, files, notebooks and books. In the middle of the chaos was a plain desk with two calculating machines and a telephone.

‘Have you had coffee?’ Nathan asked, seeming nervous. ‘I’m so sorry, I don’t have any extra chairs.’

‘That’s all right,’ Jane said. ‘And we’ve had coffee, thank you. We just want to find out who might benefit from Mr. Foxley’s death. We’re a little confused about who owns the company and the position of the various agents.’

Nathan clicked the top of his retractable pen. ‘Well, it is quite complicated, but the primary shareholder of Foxley & Myers is – or was – Charles Foxley. Originally Mr. Foxley and Mr. Myers were not exactly partners. Mr. Myers was the first agent to join the company. I believe shortly after that, they both decided on bringing in more agents.’

Jane opened her notebook. ‘So that would be Emma Ransom, Laura Queen and Daniel Bergman?’