‘I spoke to Evelyn Stanley’s father yesterday, and he told me his daughter lent him a large amount of money a few months before she died.’ Oli puts her fork down and drinks the rest of her champagne. ‘I think the girls were involved in something serious.’

Dean laughs. ‘Mitchell Stanley? Come on, Oli, he’s a total hack. He copped too many knocks to the head. He was a mess ten years ago, and I’ve heard he’s been in and out of rehab for the past couple of years. He probably barely remembers half of what was going on back then.’

‘I still think he’s right that something strange was going on in that house,’ says Oli, as she skewers a piece of steak with her fork. ‘I want to push it as far as I can. If cash was coming into that house, chances are it was from drugs, prostitution or both, and I’m convinced it’s linked to Alex killing Evelyn.’

Dean casually gestures for the waiter and orders a bottle of red. Oli is surprised—he rarely drinks this much, and neither does she. He has seemed stressed lately; maybe it’s getting on top of him.

‘This is a big deal for me,’ she says quietly.

‘Hey, I know.’ He takes her hand and kisses it. ‘No matter what, you’ll write a great piece, you always do. And I’ll get to brag about my clever fiancée.’

‘There’s a thing coming out tomorrow,’ she blurts. She needs to go easy on the wine, she’s already feeling light-headed. ‘A podcast about cold cases, starting with the Housemate case. We’re doing a bunch of interviews with people who knew the girls, and I’m in the first episode. It’s totally different from print, but I think it sounds okay.’

‘Huh.’ His eyes glitter in the candlelight. ‘I don’t know how I feel about the world listening to your sexy voice. It’s supposed to be just for me.’

She waves his comment away. ‘I’m really not sure that many people will listen to it anyway.’

‘I’m sure it will be very popular.’

‘TJ reckons the sale of the paper is imminent,’ she finds herself saying. ‘He tried to talk to me about leaving and doing something else, a start-up, but I don’t really understand what he was getting at. He said the paper will sell out and turn into a tabloid.’

Dean dabs at his mouth with a napkin. ‘I’ve heard the rumours about a sale, but it’s not confirmed. I think most companies can smell a bad investment.’

Oli looks at him. Doesn’t know what to say.