Harry went back to Matt’s house after running club. It lacked the spectacle of his aunt’s mountainside home, but Harry’s best friend did have the twin advantages of a giant video projector screen that filled an entire wall of his bedroom, and Lana, his beautiful girlfriend, who sat scoffing Pringles in a swing chair anchored to the ceiling.

‘So, this is the voicemail I was telling you about,’ Harry said, pressing play to set off a terse, gravelly male voice. ‘Tell me what you think.’

‘Mr Smirnov, you don’t know me, but I’ve heard things about Vegas Local, including the fact you don’t take ads from Janssen Group. I can give you a huge story about the Janssens’ Fremont Street casino. It could blow a big hole in their operations. I’m not looking for money, just someone who can give the story the airing it deserves before the Janssens get wind and shut it down. I might not be in town for much longer, so call me on this number as soon as you can.’

‘He sounds really frightened,’ Lana observed.

Harry nodded in agreement. ‘When I called back, the number was dead. I know a guy who knows a guy who can get details out of cell-phone companies. He said it was a twenty-dollar burner phone, purchased at an Exxon station last week.’

Lana seemed intrigued. ‘Can the journalists at Vegas Local track him down?’

Matt laughed. ‘Harry is the journalist at Vegas Local.’

‘Most of our writers are local people, who get a cut of the ad revenue if their articles get more than five thousand views,’ Harry explained. ‘There’s my co-owner, Ellie, but he’s based in San Francisco. Ads and coupons are sold by two ad guys who work from home and our app and website development is done by Ngoc and Thanh in Hanoi.’

Lana looked surprised. ‘I thought a popular site like Vegas Local would have an office, and full-time journalists.’

Harry shook his head. ‘Ellie calls it the Super-Lean Business Model. The trick to getting people to keep visiting the site and clicking ads is lots of coupons and discounts, plus curating the homepage so that there are new stories twice a day. A mix of upbeat news, scary crime and funny pet videos seems to work best.’

‘Pure exploitation,’ Matt said mischievously. ‘Harry funds his lavish lifestyle with cheap labour and locals writing articles for a few dollars.’

‘Up your hole,’ Harry said, giving Matt the finger, while simultaneously feeling guilty because his friend was close to the truth.

‘It’s amazing, though,’ Lana said. ‘Sixteen and you own a chunk of a super-successful website.’

‘Evil capitalist!’ Matt said, laughing and making whip-cracking sounds.

‘Mind if I grab a Coke?’ Lana asked.

‘Help yourself,’ Matt said.

‘Anyone else want anything?’