Adrian looked at him with misgiving. Perhaps Gavin was not cut out to be a journalist. The only reason he’d given Gavin a job on the Echo in the first place was that he was the son of his first girlfriend, to whom he still felt warm and obliging. And it wasn’t as if he had many jobs to give out. They’d just been forced to add ‘& Advertiser’ to the masthead: The Newbury and Thatcham Echo & Advertiser; he’d had a hell of a time on InDesign trying to make it all fit.

He tried to be understanding. ‘Gavin, I’m sorry about your suit. I’m sure it’ll come out.’

‘It won’t, look at it. On the Beast they probably have a clothes allowance.’

Adrian drew in his breath, but said, ‘OK, we’ll see what we can do when we get back to town. But for now, let’s remember that this is the biggest story in the history of the Echo. Not just that, it’s the biggest story in the world right now, and it’s on our patch. I think that’s worth a grass-stain or two.’

‘I don’t see what the great story is. It’s just a bunch of people working in one place instead of another place.’

Adrian paused to frame his comments constructively. ‘The way you’ve got to think about it is: what were we talking about the other day, when we were on the pet-doppelgangers story?’

‘Um…’ Gavin thought. ‘About how we couldn’t write the story till we’d found one of the doppelgangers?’

‘Exactly, that’s exactly right. Until we’d found one or not found one. Doppelganger found, or doppelganger mystery. It’s the same here. We don’t know what the story is, but we do know that there’s a great story in there somewhere. And when we damn well get in there, and dig around, and find it, the Newbury and Thatcham Echo & Advertiser is going to be first in the world for news. First in the world. Imagine that.’ Adrian was getting excited again. ‘And your name can be one of the ones on the byline.’

‘Fine,’ said Gavin. ‘But Nikki still hasn’t texted back. She’s probably at work.’

‘Well, can you look up the number of where she works on your phone?’

‘Yeah.’

Some of Adrian’s irritation escaped him. ‘Well, Jesus, Gavin, do it then. Call the hairdresser, ask to speak to Nikki, find out if her husband’s on shift. For all we know, he might be that bloody policeman right bloody there, just desperate for a chance to let us inside.’