‘I dunno. Like, people with influence, I guess. She said that you could earn thousands of dollars, but that if you screwed it up or went to the cops or whatever then the guys running it could set you up for another crime and land you in gaol. That’s how much power they had.’

‘Zoe, when was this?’

‘2004.’

A horrible thought anchors in Oli’s gut.

‘I didn’t do it, by the way,’ Zoe says. ‘I kind of flipped out over it and ended up dropping out of uni and moving to Queensland.’

Oli’s thoughts swarm around each other. ‘And you told Cooper all this the other day?’

‘Yeah. He asked lots of questions too. He asked if the girl I spoke to back then ever mentioned the premier.’

‘John O’Brien?’

‘Yeah. I said no, but he still seemed pretty fired up about it.’

Oli is struggling to concentrate. ‘Thanks, Zoe, I really appreciate you talking to me.’

‘Just be careful. Back then I could tell this was big and now, well, people are dying. I just don’t know how far this goes.’

Oli hangs up, completely overwhelmed. Isabelle knew about this, she is sure of it. She glances at Cooper’s notebook. Remembers writing Rusty’s number on the front page. Did Cooper call Rusty and tell him what Zoe said? Did Rusty know where he went that day?

She starts pacing around the room, ignoring her ballooning bladder as it strains against her stomach. Clearly Cooper thought that O’Brien was involved or he wouldn’t have asked Zoe about him. That line of thinking would have led him straight to TJ, seeing as it is his story. So Oli calls him.

‘Oli! I’ve been worried about you. Are you okay?’

‘TJ, did Cooper call you the other day?’ She’s practically yelling.

‘I’m so sorry about what happened to him, Ol, it’s just awful. They think it was a mugging, right?’

‘Did he call you, TJ? About O’Brien?’

‘We had a conversation.’ TJ sounds perplexed. ‘Downstairs in the newsroom. He asked a bunch of questions about whether I’d ever come across any suggestion that O’Brien was linked to a porn ring or whether any of his ministers and senior staffers had been. Cooper asked if I could get him a list of staff names from a few years back. Why?’

The anchor drops deeper in Oli’s gut. ‘Did you? Did you get him the list?’

‘I didn’t have a chance, but he said he had a few names to run with already. He, ah, he said not to mention it to you. Oli, what’s going on? Is this porn thing legit? Please let me help, I feel terrible about the past few weeks. I’ve acted like a total wanker.’