‘That’s a Daumier-Cross coat,’ said Ursula, her eyes slightly narrowed over her wine glass. ‘There’s a waiting list of, like, six months…’

‘It’s Pansy Marks-Dillon,’ said Tansy. ‘Easy to be on the best-dressed list if your husband’s got fifty mill. Freddie’s the cheapest rich man in the world; I had to hide new stuff from him, or pretend it was fake. He could be such a bore sometimes.’

‘You always look wonderful,’ said Bristow, pink in the face.

‘You’re sweet,’ said Tansy Bestigui in a bored voice.

The waiter arrived to clear away their plates.

‘What were you saying?’ she asked Strike. ‘Oh, yah, the flats. Deeby Macc coming… except he didn’t. Freddie was furious he never got there, because he’d put roses in his flat. Freddie is such a cheap bastard.’

‘How well do you know Derrick Wilson?’ Strike asked.

She blinked.

‘Well – he’s the security guard; I don’t know him, do I? He seemed all right. Freddie always said he was the best of the bunch.’

‘Really? Why was that?’

She shrugged.

‘I don’t know, you’d have to ask Freddie. And good luck with that,’ she added, with a little laugh. ‘Freddie’ll talk to you when hell freezes over.’

‘Tansy,’ said Bristow, leaning in a little, ‘why don’t you just tell Cormoran what you actually heard that night?’

Strike would have preferred Bristow not to intervene.

‘Well,’ said Tansy. ‘It was getting on for two in the morning, and I wanted a drink of water.’

Her tone was flat and expressionless. Strike noticed that, even in this small beginning, she had altered the story she had told the police.

‘So I went to the bathroom to get one, and as I was heading back across the sitting room, towards the bedroom, I heard shouting. She – Lula – was saying, “It’s too late, I’ve already done it,” and then a man said, “You’re a lying fucking bitch,” and then – and then he threw her over. I actually saw her fall.’

And Tansy made a tiny jerky movement with her hands that Strike understood to indicate flailing.

Bristow set down his glass, looking nauseated. Their main courses arrived. Ursula drank more wine. Neither Tansy nor Bristow touched their food. Strike picked up his fork and began to eat, trying not to look as though he was enjoying his puntarelle with anchovies.

‘I screamed,’ whispered Tansy. ‘I couldn’t stop screaming. I ran out of the flat, past Freddie, and downstairs. I just wanted to tell security that there was a man up there, so they could get him.