“Pissed off with her? Who got pissed off with her? Why?” Lindsay asked.

“A bunch of them in editorial. The PC brigade. If that lot went on a march, they wouldn’t go, ‘Right, left, right, left,’ they’d go, ‘Right on, right on.’ ” Lauren grinned.

“And what had Penny done to upset them?” Lindsay asked.

“It was about her being gay. I never even knew she was till that lot started going on about it. It turns out they were put out because she’d been in the closet all those years. They kept going on about it being hypocritical not to be out, and how she’d only stayed in the closet for the sake of her sales figures. Which I thought was a bit of a liberty, really. I mean, it’s nobody’s business who she goes to bed with if she doesn’t want it to be, is it?”

Lindsay sighed, lacking the energy for that particular conversation. “Did anyone make any specific threats, or was it generalized grumbling?”

“Just grumbling, really. People who haven’t got anything better to do except indulge in petty jealousy and poison. And nobody had the bottle to front Penny up about it, either.” Lauren frowned. “Although . . . maybe that’s what it was went wrong with her and Baz.”

“Something went wrong? When?”

“This last trip. When I first met Penny, her and Baz got on really well. They were always laughing and joking together, teasing each other, taking the piss, that kind of thing. They’d always go out to lunch or dinner together. More than just duty, like they really enjoyed each other’s company. But this time, it was different. They were dead polite to each other, you know?”

“Formal?”

“Yeah, like they hardly knew each other. Awkward. Like it was uncomfortable to be with each other. Penny was in and out a few times, and every time they were dead stiff with each other.”

“As if they’d had a row?”

Lauren frowned. “Not exactly, no. More like they were sniffing round each other. Like they were trying to avoid a row, almost. Anyway, the upshot was that Penny comes to me and says can I let her into the office last thing at night, once everybody else had gone home. She said she’d make it worth my while. Well, it was no problem for me, was it, on account of I’ve got a full set of keys so I can get in in the mornings. And nobody notices what time I go home, so long as it doesn’t inconvenience them.”

Lindsay stared at Lauren, food forgotten. “Did Penny say why she wanted to get into the offices?”

Lauren shrugged. “Not exactly. But she wanted to know if I knew if the computers were on a network and if people like Baz and Danny had their own separate terminals. I said I didn’t know what the exact set-up was, but I sussed she was only mentioning Danny as a sort of diversion. It was Baz she was really interested in. I didn’t give a toss anyway. I mean, you’ve seen what a shit that Baz can be. So I said all right, I’d hang on late one night and I’d let her in. We agreed that she’d lock up and drop the keys back round my flat when she’d done.”