‘Oh Jude,’ Clare said, doing her best to sound as if this was news. ‘How wonderful! Hold on, I’ll pull out a sun lounger and you can tell me all about it.’

Two months later

Chapter 54

DCI Alastair Gibson held open the door and they walked into the building, following the signs for Reception. A smiling woman at the front desk checked their names, issued them with lanyards and said someone would come to collect them shortly.

‘Nervous?’ the DCI said.

She nodded. ‘A bit.’

‘You’ll be great.’

A young woman in jeans and a red jumper appeared. ‘DI Mackay?’ she said.

‘Clare’s fine.’

She smiled. ‘I’m Jess. I’ll be looking after you this morning.’

They followed Jess through a security barrier, swiping their lanyards across a reader, then through a maze of corridors.

‘Like a labyrinth, isn’t it?’ Jess said. ‘Don’t worry. Someone’ll see you back.’

They passed endless doors labelled with numbers until, eventually, Jess stopped at one and swiped a reader with her lanyard. The door clicked and she pushed it open, leading them into a large room. There were desks dotted round one side with laptops standing open and a collection of low sofas towards the other end. At the top of the room there was a long table with a stack of plates and white china mugs. An urn was plugged in next to a selection of teabags and coffee sachets. Beside this was a large ashet of sandwiches and other savoury snacks. High on the wall were two TV screens showing the current programme, the morning news bulletin.

‘Hungry?’ Jess said. ‘Tea? Coffee? We have bottles of water too, somewhere.’ She cast vaguely around. ‘I can get you water if you like?’

Clare said a small coffee would be lovely and Jess obliged, bringing a plate of sandwiches. Her stomach was turning somersaults but the DCI tucked into a bacon roll, pronouncing it delicious.

‘I wouldn’t eat for half an hour before you’re on,’ Jess advised. ‘You don’t want to be burping on live TV.’

‘What time will I be on?’

‘Just after the eleven o’clock news,’ Jess said, ‘unless anything changes.’ She studied Clare then said, ‘We’ll get you into make-up about ten fifteen. Do a light check then you’ll be ready to go. Just before we go to the news desk I’ll take you to the studio door. Then one of the producers will escort you onto the set. You’ll have a few minutes to get settled then we’ll be live.’

Clare thought she might actually vomit from nerves.

The DCI saw this and squeezed her arm. ‘You’ll be great,’ he said again. ‘You’ve done TV stuff before.’

‘Yeah, for work. When we’re asking the public for help. But this is about me.’