‘She—Audrey Hepburn—is communicating from the dead because she’d like us to know her dog is fine?’ asked Ben, battling to keep the incredulity out of his voice.

‘Exactly,’ Maximilian replied matter-of-factly.

‘Mr Maximilian, you recently made headlines for helping Nicholas Hoult speak to his dead dog, so it seems like pets are a bit of a theme for you. Can you tell us what draws you to these particular interactions?’ Ben asked smoothly. Years of podcast recordings had made both Evie and Ben excellent interviewers. When they’d first started their podcast ten years ago, they’d bumbled their way through any interview they could scramble together, unable to veer from their pre-prepared questions.

Maximilian poured himself another generous cup of tea, looking thoroughly fed up with the two mere mortals before him, and then said, ‘Pets are incredibly easy for me to communicate with in the afterlife. In fact, in my experience, they come to me much more easily than humans, probably because they’ve always been so attached to human companionship.’

‘Fascinating,’ said Evie, leaning forward on her elbows. ‘So, just to draw you back to what we touched on earlier. During your meeting with Hugo Hearst last week, did he want to speak with his recently deceased cat, Bunny? Oh, and you don’t happen to know whether he really is dating that ex-Victoria Secret’s model?’

The medium raised an eyebrow and Ben coughed loudly. Evie changed tack swiftly and asked Maximilian if he and Hugo had discussed his film adaptation of Henrietta’s Gift.

Maximilian rolled his eyes. ‘We did discuss Henrietta’s Gift. However, as I said, I can’t talk to you about the details of my interactions with living clients.’

‘Isn’t Henrietta’s Gift just the most romantic, beautifully crafted film you’ve ever seen?’ Evie said dreamily. ‘I’d give anything to find out more about how Hugo manages to write novels, screenplays and act. He’s so elusive about the nitty gritty of his work.’

‘You sound like his publicist rather than a podcast interviewer,’ Maximilian said.

‘God, I wish,’ Evie said, blushing. She had, in fact, applied to be Hugo’s personal shopper when the job had popped up on his official Facebook page. Sadly, she’d never heard back.

‘You have an interesting energy,’ Maximilian said to Evie, looking at her more closely.

‘Ah, thank you …’ she replied.

Keen to get the interview back on track, Ben rattled off the rest of the questions they’d prepared, to which Maximilian name-dropped dead celebrities like it was nobody’s business. From passing on messages to Elvis Presley’s loved ones to helping Emma Watson speak to her great grandmother, he made it sound like he was indispensable to every star in the UK, not to mention numerous visiting Hollywood icons.