‘This is ridiculous.’ She gathers her things and gets to her feet, just as he bursts in.

He makes a beeline to her, eyes wild.

‘Can’t you tell the time?’ she says crossly.

His chest rises and falls, and he combs his fingers through his hair. ‘It’s not Nicole.’

She looks at him blankly. Someone squeezes past her, trying to get to their table, and she stumbles and holds on to the chair to steady herself. Her phone starts buzzing on the table. ‘What do you mean?’

‘The dead woman,’ Cooper huffs. ‘It’s not Nicole. It’s Alex.’

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

CARS AND TRAMS SAIL BY, AND SPARROWS FLIT BETWEEN THE GUTTER and the footpath, searching for crumbs under the watchful gaze of a mangy crow. Oli stands outside Breakers, feeling numb. Her brain is struggling to process this new information.

Cooper paces in front of her, increasingly distressed. ‘I messaged Alex this morning, even though she still hadn’t read the other one. I just figured that maybe if she heard it come through, it might prompt her to respond, but she was dead the whole time!’ His face loses the last of its colour. ‘I mean, holy shit, Oli. She’s dead.’

‘Has it been confirmed?’

He nods. ‘Yep, it just hit the newsdesk, and I ran straight here. Alex’s lawyer posted it on Twitter after she ID’d the body. She’s the next of kin—how sad is that? Look, it’s legit.’

Oli glances at his screen, quickly reads the message and recognises Ruby Yeoh, the lawyer from Alex’s trial. ‘Okay.’ Oli squints into the sky, trying to quell her intense feeling of being overwhelmed. ‘Where’s your camera?’

‘Huh?’ Cooper looks at her blankly.

‘The camera from yesterday. I want to look at that photo.’

‘I deleted it off the camera,’ he mumbles. ‘But I sent it to myself.’ He swipes at his phone screen a few times and hands it to her.

Oli enlarges the image, each zoom amplifying her dread. Just like she saw Nicole yesterday, she now sees Alex. All three girls were so similar: same build, same height. The kind of hair that was easily dyed and restyled. In her mind’s eye, Alex and Nicole merge into one. ‘Fucking hell.’ Oli hands the camera back to Cooper.

A horn blares, and they both jump. A little girl starts to cry and is promptly whisked onto her father’s shoulders; she gleefully wipes her lollipop across his bald head.

Cooper swallows, clearly desperate for some direction. ‘What do we do now?’

‘Let me try Rusty.’

‘The cop from yesterday?’

She nods, ignores a missed call from Dawn and dials Rusty. ‘Jesus,’ Oli says when he picks up, ‘what the fuck is going on?’