Spencer lifted his hand to indicate that they were fine. Mr. Bergman’s office was spacious, with a window looking out onto a yard behind the building, with a partly opened white blind. Bookcases were stacked on two walls and glass-fronted cabinets beneath them housed hundreds of scripts. Two comfortable-looking sofas formed a ‘V’ in front of his desk. Bergman waited until they had both sat down before moving around his desk to sit in a large leather swivel chair. They were now able to get a good look at the man they had earlier heard screaming and cursing. Daniel had dark, curly hair, an unusually long face with a prominent nose, and a small, pinched mouth, but his most striking feature was his dark brown eyes, which were set unusually close together. He spread his hands on the top of his desk and attempted a pleasant smile.

‘We are all in a state of shock,’ he said softly. ‘We haven’t really been told any details, but James said that he had identified him and that he was shocked to see the injuries to his face. Obviously I’ll do all I can to help you to find who did this to him, but you have to understand that, although we all work together under the same roof, we are very separate and private people and do not mix socially with each other unless it’s for premieres or discussing casting between agents. By that I mean, if I have a movie and require an actress that I know is represented by Emma, and so of course we discuss things. But it is always strictly business.’ Bergman spoke quietly and softly, as if he was a different person to the one they had heard screaming abuse earlier. Jane found it slightly disturbing.

‘Even so, can you think of anyone who would have a motive to kill Charles Foxley?’ Spencer asked.

‘I am aware there was a very unpleasant situation with regard to Charles’s purchase of his flat, which was previously owned by a set designer, but that was quite a long time ago. He didn’t talk about it that much, but he was quite upset when it all blew up and the designer, Sebastian Martinez, made a big fuss.’

‘Can you explain what the fuss was about?’ Jane asked.

‘Not really. I think it was connected to something about a set Martinez had built, which went catastrophically wrong. But I was never privy to any of the details. Charles is – or was – a very likeable man, who made friends easily, but beneath that bon viveur there was, I know, a darker side. He hated failure, but the strange thing is that he hated success almost as much. There was something masochistic about it.’

Spencer glanced at the list of people that Myers had given them and saw that Sebastian Martinez, with his address and contact number, was on the list.