‘If they’ll play your game to your rules, you’ll protect them? It’s no better than a protection racket, Casey. Secrets for silence. While you promise the world it’s the precise opposite.’

Casey was watching the flames. Out in the hall, one of the bloodhounds yawned in a long whine.

‘You buy stories,’ Clio sneered. ‘Just to bury them.’

‘Some maybe. Not us.’

Clio stood up, walked over to the fireplace. She peered at herself in the mirror, smiling at her own reflection.

‘That girl out in Bangladesh,’ said Clio. ‘On the ship. She died, Casey. Died for Emily and Dominic’s fantasy. But you’ll protect them all the same.’ Clio paused, fiddling with a tiny ornament. ‘You knew that already, didn’t you, Casey? That the girl died.’

Casey clenched her jaw. ‘Zohra. Her name was Zohra. And, yes, I knew that.’

‘You’ll cover it up.’ Clio separated out each word.

‘I’ll tell her story.’

They stared at each other in the mirror.

‘The parasite that kills its host,’ Clio said thoughtfully. ‘Such a grim thought. Wasn’t it Charles Darwin who said he couldn’t believe in religion because no god would design a parasitic wasp that ate its host from inside?’

‘And no god could have put Zohra on that ship.’

‘Something like that. We’re all part of it,’ Clio said, almost to herself. ‘You know that perfectly well, Casey. And at least, this system made a few people very happy. And they’re doing it for a child, not a cheap top.’

‘It ruined lives.’

‘So.’ Clio’s voice changed as she turned away from the mirror. ‘You always protect your sources.’ She paused. ‘And you always keep your promises, Casey?’

‘I try to.’

The sky was slowly brightening to grey outside. ‘Well,’ Clio went on, almost mocking. ‘In any case, maybe I can be a source?’

Clio was watching Casey’s face intently.

‘You must be mad,’ Casey said, without thinking. ‘You? No. Never.’

But even as she spoke, she felt the curiosity spark.

‘You don’t know what I’m offering yet.’

‘Tell me then.’

Clio almost smiled. ‘Not without your promise.’

Casey stared across the room, the headlines flickering.

‘No.’ Casey forced the word out.

Clio sighed.

‘I can’t.’ Casey was shaking her head, feeling the tug like a magnet.

‘Are you quite sure?’ Clio’s voice was low.

‘You’re not my source,’ said Casey more firmly. ‘I won’t protect you.’

‘Fine,’ Clio shrugged, as if she were bored. ‘Then I’ll tell my friend that we don’t need Dominic Burton-Smith any more.’

Picking up her phone, Clio was watching Casey for her reaction. Casey tried to keep her face steady.

Emily, shivering in the wind . . .

Promising each other again and again that this time it would be all right . . .

Casey kept her face expressionless.