They carried on reading in silence, Sophie swept away by her first close read of Heart of Glass, Lindsay marvelling at the improvements that fury and heartbreak had brought to her friend’s novel. They were disturbed twice, once by Helen inquiring after Lindsay’s health and revealing that, as she spoke, VAT inspectors were going through every piece of paper in Guy and Stella’s office, every file in the computer, and Watergaw’s accounts. “They’re going to have to explain where that EU grant went as well,” she said gleefully. “One of the inspectors stuck his head round the door half an hour ago to ask me about it. It turns out Stella was so sure of herself that she didn’t erase the text of the forged letter from her personal section of the computer.”

“I like it,” Lindsay said, glad something she’d attempted had worked out. She didn’t get long to bask in her success. Only minutes later, Geri Cusack had called back. Lindsay asked her to hold on while Sophie picked up the extension.

“Okay,” she said when she heard the click and the line quality changed subtly, “here’s the meat. They’re holding Meredith while they ‘develop their lines of inquiry’ following Danny King’s revelations. Apparently there’s a supermarket opposite Monarch’s offices and King’s office overlooks it. He says he saw Meredith hanging around the car park, looking as if she was trying not to be conspicuous. She’d sit in one spot for a bit, then move and lean against a car, then move somewhere else again. This was when Penny made her last visit to Monarch.”

Lindsay clenched her eyes shut. “This does not sound pretty,” she said. “But how come it’s taken him the best part of a week to ‘remember’ this?”

“He claims he didn’t know it was Meredith,” Geri said evenly.

“He didn’t know it was Meredith? He’s been publishing Penny for ten years and he didn’t know Meredith?” Lindsay demanded. “Shit, I know they were in the closet, but I can’t believe he never met Meredith. Baz knew her. How come Danny didn’t?”

Geri sighed. “Meredith confirms she never actually met Danny. A couple of times, they were both at parties to celebrate Penny’s books, but Meredith always kept a low profile.”

“Even so, her pictures were all over the newspapers after her arrest. I don’t see how he can have missed that,” Lindsay protested.