‘In between trying not to puke my guts up, yeah, of course. I was in a total panic, imagining the worst. I called Alex a bunch of times, and I called Evelyn and Nic, but no one answered. I finally went out the front and saw Alex coming out of the house with a blanket over her, covered in blood. And then a detective started explaining to me that Alex was being taken in for questioning because Evelyn was dead. They asked me to come to the station too. I think I was in shock for a long time.’

Cooper’s leg starts to jiggle in Oli’s peripheral vision. His glass of sludge is empty; he’s completely transfixed by Miles. She becomes aware of the conversations around them: budgets, growth pipelines, weekend plans. Plates and cutlery are being cleared from nearby tables, and a pop song dances around the corners of it all.

She takes a deep breath and runs her tongue along her teeth, chalky with coffee remnants. ‘Miles.’

He jumps.

‘What did you want to tell us?’

He exhales shakily. ‘God, I can’t even explain it. The whole night was pretty weird from the start. The girls had been acting strangely for weeks, and I think Nic organised the dinner as a bit of a circuit-breaker, but it didn’t work. The guys from next door, Ren and Matt, turned up half cut, and two of our other friends, Tanya and Roy, came too. I remember they were talking to each other in Spanish because they were about to go on some holiday, and they’d been at a language class that afternoon. It was pretty annoying after a while. And some other girl was there too—Amber, some new friend of Evelyn’s, I think—but she was only there for a bit. It all went downhill pretty quick. Ren dropped a bottle of wine on the kitchen floor before we had dinner. There was glass and wine everywhere, and Evelyn seemed really pissed off. Then that professor guy showed up, and he was so awkward and nervous. I could tell Evelyn was annoyed he was there.’

‘Julian McCrae,’ Cooper offers.

‘Yeah.’

‘Do you know who invited him?’ Oli asks.