‘Welcome to Senior Special Agent of the FBI, Harry Bellamy,’ Tyler said with a grin.

Bellamy gave a relaxed smile to everyone as he took the remaining seat, pushing it back to accommodate his long legs.

There was a pause as Walker turned towards Lucas Miller, who gave a brief nod and stood up. He made a quick adjustment to his pristine white cuffs and began.

‘Reading the statements, I felt it was imperative that we get a clearer idea of who the victim was. From all the conflicting statements, he comes across as a man of many contradictions. On the one hand, he’s an exceedingly successful, respectable theatrical agent. On the other, he’s a masochistic sexual pervert. On the one hand, he’s well-liked, with an impressive list of clients. On the other, there seems to have been numerous people with grievances against him. Now, grievances about mismanagement are, in my estimation, rarely powerful enough to be the motivation for such a brutal, vicious murder. Which is why we’re hoping my associate from the FBI can help us with a possible profile of the killer.’

He turned to acknowledge Bellamy, before turning back to the expectant faces in the room.

‘I want to start with the person who has been most frequently described as having a motive, but we know very little about.’

Spencer leaned closer to Jane. ‘Maybe we didn’t bother digging too deeply because he committed suicide six months before the murder!’

Miller glanced towards them and asked Jane and Spencer to kindly move to one side so he could screen the pictures on the white wall behind them.

The room waited patiently as Miller prepared the slide projector, with the boxes of slides already in position beside it.

‘This man is Sebastian Martinez.’ Everyone turned to the wall as the machine clicked and a picture of a handsome, slender, Spanish-looking man appeared.

‘Martinez was a very talented theatre set designer, whose work was much in demand. He was also addicted to cocaine and was a promiscuous homosexual. Martinez had accrued a number of awards and was possibly at the peak of his career when the accident occurred: A leading soprano fell from a balcony during a performance.’

There was a mild titter in the room, which was quickly stilled as Miller glanced coldly towards the offenders.