They eat in silence for a few minutes, Oli watching Cooper navigate his way around a plate of dumplings. ‘I found something,’ she blurts out. ‘Some old notebooks.’ She imagines Isabelle’s words escaping from the pages and sprawled across the table, and she immediately wants to collect them up and cram them back in. ‘They might help us with the story.’

‘You found them at work?’ Cooper wrinkles his nose.

‘No. At my house.’

His eyes widen. ‘Isabelle Yardley’s?’

Oli doesn’t reply, letting her eyes provide confirmation.

‘Police diaries,’ he whispers, jumping as a waiter appears behind him to clear his plate. Cooper’s Adam’s apple punches in and out of his throat.

Oli nods. ‘Three of them.’

‘Holy shit, are you kidding? Oli, this is nuts!’ His voice drops. ‘Is it legal?’

‘I found them in my house,’ she says, dodging the question.

He moistens his lips. ‘Have you read them?’

‘Some.’ She zips open her bag, hands him the 2006 diary. ‘I haven’t looked at this one yet. I’ve barely had a chance to look through them at all.’

He sticks out his neck, gaze shifting all over the restaurant. ‘You want to do this here? Are you crazy?’

‘I don’t think Chilli Town is under police surveillance,’ she says drily. ‘We’ll order some green tea, read some old diaries. No big deal. Bowman might be right, this whole case might be a fizzer, but what if he’s wrong?’ Isabelle’s face hovers in her mind. ‘Because the thing is, I don’t think Alex killed her friend over drugs, and I don’t think Isabelle Yardley thought she did either.’

‘This is incredible.’ Cooper holds the diary in front of him like a Holy Grail.

‘I’ll order some more tea.’

The afternoon sun redirects off the venetian blinds, and swords of light hit their table as they read. They make notes and occasional comments, but mostly they read in silence, side by side, tracing over Isabelle’s version of the past.

‘Look at this,’ Oli says. ‘Isabelle thought that Melanie from Calamity Jane’s was full of shit.’ She points to the notes where Isabelle has written: Melanie can’t confirm claims. Who was the original source? No evidence E was ever there.

‘But why would she lie?’ Cooper asks.

‘To make the girls seem like trouble,’ Oli replies. ‘And maybe to suggest that Evelyn’s death was linked to the prostitute murders from the year before.’

‘If that’s true, it might mean there really is more to this whole thing. That type of cover-up seems pretty sophisticated.’

‘That’s what I’m starting to think. Although Bowman was pretty sure that Evelyn had been linked to the club.’ She looks down at the notes. ‘Isabelle might have been totally off base. I guess we need to keep that in mind. These are just her theories.’