Yesterday morning, TJ came straight from the McCraes’ house to the hospital and persuaded a nurse to let him in even though it was well before visiting hours. He charmed the same nurse into bringing him a latte. Looking more haggard than Oli had ever seen him, he drank the coffee and told her about Nicole’s arrest. Then he set up his laptop on a side table. He typed while Oli dictated the exclusive. He corrected the facts and helped her fill in the details, and she closed her eyes while he read it back to her.

She was asleep before he filed the story. Dawn was missing in action so he sent the piece straight to Joosten. When Oli woke a few hours later, TJ was curled in the hospital chair, snoring lightly, his neck bent to the left, legs stretched awkwardly out in front of him.

Lily and Shaun visited in the afternoon, and they all watched the news together.

Diana McCrae had taken a chance with Oli, concocting a story that placed her and her husband squarely in the centre of the story, hoping this would explain away their link to Nicole and any evidence that surfaced.

Wrapped in Lily’s arms after Bowman was taken away, Oli remembered Julian saying he’d met the girl he thought was his daughter when he went to the house in Carlton, but Cara had told Oli she’d taken Evie shopping with her. Suddenly, Diana’s willingness to share her horrible secret felt sinister. Opportunistic. The notes in Isabelle’s diary made sense: she’d wanted the McCraes’ house searched for signs Louise had been there, but the request was rejected. Oli is sure Nicole went to the McCraes after Evelyn died and took Louise from them rather than going through with their original plan of selling her to someone in the network. That wouldn’t have been safe if either the McCraes or Bowman were worried Evelyn had said something about Louise before she died. Probably Bowman helped. Clearly they’d all been working together, then and now. Oli tries not to think about what had been in store for Louise before the plan changed. And she tries not to think about what Nicole has subjected her to since.

Oli drinks her juice and eats one of the muffins Lily left for her. Chewing slowly, she watches the news on TV and scrolls through Twitter on her phone. Graphics flash up behind Manny Cho’s bald head: photos of the McCraes on holiday, smiling with their arms around each other. Next there’s a photo of Nathan. Respected couple and university leader revealed to be at the centre of child pornography ring reads the ticker along the bottom of the screen.