‘Well, we kind of sprang it on him,’ Matty said in a confiding tone. ‘Clo knew he was nervous and thought it was better not to give him time to worry.’

‘Did she now?’ he asked sceptically, still staring at her, and she could see daylight shining through holes that hadn’t yet closed over in last night’s skein of trust; it might yet tear into ribbons, leave them with nothing but rags. She needed to tread with fairy steps . . .

‘But clearly that’s not the case for you. When would you like to do yours?’ Clover asked him. ‘The sooner it’s done, the sooner you lose the biggest obstacle to getting rid of us.’ She shrugged. ‘St Moritz notwithstanding.’

‘Is that so?’ he said coolly. ‘Well, why didn’t you say so? . . . Give me time to shower?’

Chapter Twenty-One

‘Are you even ready for this?’ Johnny whispered, setting the camera back up.

‘I’m going to have to be,’ Clover murmured, trying not to panic. Her efforts of bridge-building had backfired – there wasn’t now time for her to develop the arc for questions, no time for Matty to transcribe Ari’s interview. She would have to draw on the threads he’d set down from memory.

She walked over to the Christmas tree and closed her eyes, trying to clear her head. She knew what she had to ask – she knew the question that sat at the very heart of this film. It was just a matter of how she should get there. Should she go in early and catch him with the element of surprise? He might be expecting her to build slowly, in which case he would easily toy with her. On the other hand, if she went in too hard and fast, if she got the timing wrong, he might walk off and she’d have no interview at all.

She scraped her hands through her hair and gripped it at the temples. Oh god. Oh god. The moment she’d been waiting for for the past seven months was suddenly here, and she was the one caught on the hop? She tipped her head back and sighed.

She froze as she caught sight of Kit standing by his glass bedroom wall, staring straight down at her as he shrugged on a white shirt. Her hands dropped down as he buttoned it up, maintaining the gaze between them. They both knew how important the next hour was going to be for both their futures . . . She had to get him to trust her.

She smiled, but he turned and walked away, out of sight.

‘Shit,’ she muttered to herself.