‘We got word around twenty minutes ago. When I phoned you.’

Oli connects the dots. It’s early days, but word will spread like a match hitting gas. ‘Who else has it?’

Dawn’s face darkens. ‘We don’t know. Nothing is live yet, aside from reports of the body, and the only reason that blew up was because the jogger’s wife posted about it on social media. She’s a fitness guru with an Instagram following, so one of the TV networks picked it up.’ Dawn blows her fringe out of her eyes. ‘I’d say everyone is fact checking. You know how it goes—if we have it, they have it.’

‘When are we breaking it?’

‘We’re going live at 9 am. Basic speculation only. Then we’ll do updates on the hour, get some old shots up until we have something new.’

Oli’s eyes glaze over as she starts to draft the copy in her head. One of the missing pieces in the Housemate Homicide puzzle turned up this morning. Nicole Horrowitz, presumed murdered, was found dead by suicide in the rural suburb of Crystalbrook. Her whereabouts for the past decade remains a mystery.

‘I want you on this, Oli, one hundred per cent,’ Dawn says. ‘I wanted you on your way there now, but you weren’t answering your phone, which completely baffles me.’

Oli’s face flushes. ‘I—’

Dawn holds out a hand and closes her eyes as if Oli is a small child who has made an unholy mess. ‘It baffles me, but I don’t want to discuss it. I just want a dirty big deep dive into this whole thing. It’s perfect timing with the ten-year anniversary looming, and I’m thinking we’ll do a double-spread feature Saturday week, maybe a four-pager. Gwen can push on with the other feature we planned for the anniversary but ramp it up a bit, make it more of a tribute to Evelyn. I want you to cover the crime, the conviction and Alex’s appeal. I want you to dig the whole mess back up and flog the living shit out of it. Drop that garbage you’re writing about the prostitutes and get your arse up to the scene.’ Dawn plucks a Post-it from her notebook and squints at it; her eyesight is appalling, but she refuses to admit it. ‘Take Cooper Ng from Kylie’s team with you. Apparently he’s got an interview lined up with Alex Riboni for the true crime podcast we’re doing. I don’t know the details, but that interview is absolutely key now, so make sure you get him to lock it in with her asap, then you can take over. We need to turn it into an exclusive.’

‘You want me to take him to the scene?’ Oli says, confused.

‘Apparently he’s good with a camera, so it saves me finding a photographer to go with you.’