‘No, that won’t be necessary.’ Oli holds out her hand. ‘Thank you for your help.’ In situations like this, she finds it’s best to keep people talking, moving and thinking. The more their senses are occupied, the less likely they are to remember details. ‘Like I said, our investigation is confidential, so we’d appreciate it if you kept this exchange to yourself, Ms … ?’

‘Oh, ah, Thurston. Hayley Thurston.’

Oli smiles stiffly. ‘Thank you, Ms Thurston.’

‘Of course. As long as Evie’s okay.’ Hayley pulls on the locket around her neck. ‘She is okay, isn’t she?’

‘Have a good afternoon, Hayley.’ Oli sets her lips in a line and heads to the door.

Cooper gives Hayley an awkward wave and follows.

‘Clark Wayne?’ Oli says as she gets in the car.

Cooper’s dark eyes shine. ‘Yeah, well, I was trying to think of an alias, but I knew if I said Bruce Wayne it might be kind of obvious, so I figured I’d combine Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne.’

‘Genius.’

Cooper looks pleased.

Before starting the car, Oli calls Dawn and fills her in.

‘This kid stuff is incredible, Oli, but I’m not running with it until you’ve got more.’

Oli bites her lip and puts the keys in the ignition. ‘We’ll push the cops, see if they’ll talk once we tell them what we’ve got.’

‘Good. We need to get some new info up as soon as possible to go with the shots.’ Multiple phones trill in the background, and a male voice dips in and out of range. ‘Can you get us copy in an hour?’

‘I’ll try.’

‘It looks like O’Brien’s going to get off, so TJ’s lining up some interviews. But no matter what, we’ll have to juggle both stories for the next twenty-four hours.’

‘Okay.’ Oli presses her lips together. ‘Makes sense.’

‘When are you speaking to Alex Riboni?’

‘The interview is supposed to be on Sunday, but we’re pushing to speak to her earlier.’

‘Good,’ Dawn purrs. ‘That will show the slugs at the Sun. There’s a lot riding on it, Oli, so make sure that kid knows what he’s doing.’

Oli hangs up and starts the car. ‘Damn it.’

‘Everything okay?’ Cooper says.

‘Just deadlines.’ She exhales slowly. ‘It’s fine.’

He checks his phone. ‘Still nothing from Alex.’

Oli is starting to think that there won’t be an interview with Alex at all.

Thick bushland blurs as they drive past, heading to the cafe on the main strip.

‘Do you do that kind of thing all the time?’ Cooper asks, a tentative note in his voice.

‘What kind of thing?’ Oli yanks down the visor.

‘Pretend to be someone else?’

She shrugs. ‘Sometimes, it just depends. Often it’s the easiest way to get information, especially before a story breaks and people refuse to talk to you.’