Before Evie could ask a follow-up question, Ben dived back in. ‘We were rather fortunate to see you at work when we first arrived—which was an amazing sight to behold. Can you demonstrate for our listeners how it works?’

‘How what works?’

‘The, um … speaking-to-dead-people process,’ Ben said. ‘Our listeners would love to hear about the mechanics of it.’

Maximilian inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, his shoulders rising and falling, letting out the occasional shudder.

Ben whispered a narration of what Maximilian was doing for the benefit of their listeners, finishing with, ‘It appears as though Mr Maximilian has crossed over to the other side.’

When they hadn’t heard anything from Maximilian for another full minute, Evie scribbled a note to Ben: I think you offended him!

Ben frowned and gestured for the pen, writing: Don’t even start. I can’t believe you dragged me here to talk about your mad crush on Hugo Hearst!

Impervious to their exchange, their interviewee’s eyes remained clamped shut.

It wasn’t just that. That was just a by-product of this brilliant interview, Evie wrote back.

Ben rolled his eyes again.

‘Ben, I know you think I’m an insane “stan”,’ Evie whispered, not bothering to write any more since they’d have to edit out this long silence of Maximilian’s anyway. ‘But I feel like Hugo and I are so well matched. And I can’t stop thinking that if I’d just met him all those years ago, before he was famous—when he was literally living around the corner from my work writing Henrietta’s Gift—there could have been something between us. And then maybe things could have been different for me. I might have pushed myself more with my writing, finished my screenplay, and had the good sense to go back to university.’

‘Evie, this is all getting out of hand. Your … infatuation with Hugo has become really unhealthy,’ Ben whispered back.

‘Are you there?’ Maximilian shouted suddenly, making the two of them jump.

‘Yep, we’re still here,’ Evie said.

‘I’m not talking to you, obviously,’ Maximilian said with intense exasperation, his eyes still shut. Composing himself, he rolled his shoulders back and tried again. ‘Yes, I can hear you now. I see … I see … Yes, I see …’

How can he see with his eyes closed? Ben wrote and shoved the paper towards Evie, who swatted at it while suppressing a giggle.

‘Exactly what I suspected,’ Maximilian continued, pausing for a moment before resuming his ‘I see’ routine.

After a few more minutes of this, Maximilian opened his eyes and said, ‘Audrey would like it to be known that Mr Famous is okay and is with her now. In fact, he’s enjoying a bubble bath.’

‘Audrey?’ Evie asked.

‘Audrey Hepburn. Mr Famous was her Yorkshire Terrier. I thought you were some kind of cinephile?’