He came down twenty minutes later as she was standing in front of the fire, glancing through a set of crib notes Matty had hastily compiled from the previous talking heads and printed up for her. Clover had sat down at the table and made some bullet points about topics she wanted to pick up on from Ari’s interview. Amy’s name was underlined, with question marks.

‘Hey!’ Matty said brightly again in greeting – and warning. ‘Wow!’ she laughed. ‘It’s always sort of weird seeing you guys in actual clothes. I feel like you should be doing this in swimmers.’

Clover turned. He was wearing jeans and the shirt, no socks, no shoes. His hair was still damp from the shower.

‘Now I just have to clip this onto your shirt,’ Matty said, squeezing the clips of the small mic so he could see them. But he had done countless interviews over the years; he knew the drill. He stood perfectly still, staring ahead at the Christmas tree as Matty clipped it on. ‘. . . Great. You’re good to go.’

He glanced down at it, then across to Clover. He pointedly looked at the notes in her hand, as if they were a jury’s verdict.

‘Right, so if you’re ready, you’ll be sitting over there,’ Clover said as brightly as she could muster, indicating the chair set by the window.

He looked at it, then at her chair. For a moment she thought he was going to say he wanted to sit in hers. She wouldn’t put anything past him.

He walked over and sat down.

‘Clo,’ Johnny murmured behind her. ‘Do you want any make-up on those?’

She looked across and saw that the light softbox – although it threw out a flattering warmth on a morning with flat light; the snow clouds were throwing down their confetti again – also highlighted the clinging traces of his bruises.

Clover squinted, walking over to him. ‘Kit, your bruises are a bit visible under the lights,’ she said, her gaze roaming over his face; his eyes tracked hers, suspiciously. ‘They’re not bad at all, but would you rather have some make-up on them? Matty’s got—’

‘No.’ He stared back at her flatly. Where had yesterday’s bonhomie gone?

‘. . . Okay. Fine.’ She straightened up again and went back to her chair. She clipped on the mic and settled herself.

Matty was holding the clapperboard. Ari’s name had been wiped off and replaced with Kit’s. She looked across at Johnny for the cue.

‘I want a closed set.’

Every head turned in his direction.

‘. . . What?’ Johnny asked, his head bobbing up from behind the camera.

‘I said I want a closed set. Just me and her.’ His eyes were on Clover.

She was astounded. ‘. . . Kit, it practically is closed. There’s only Johnny and Mats here, and you know them as well as you know me.’