‘Thanks, Rusty,’ Oli says, meaning it. ‘Thanks for talking to me.’ ‘It’s nothing. All going to be in the presser today, anyway.’ His tone is deliberately casual, but it doesn’t mask his emotions, and Oli feels bad for calling him even though she’d be crazy not to milk him as a source.

‘Honestly,’ she adds, ‘I really appreciate it. We’re going pretty hard at this.’

‘I have no doubt.’ He hangs up.

She shoves her phone in her pocket, newly energised.

Cooper seems to have recovered from the shock of Alex’s death, his eyes shining with something akin to excitement. ‘I didn’t mention this before, but I have something that might help.’

Oli hugs her laptop to her chest. ‘What?’

‘I spoke to Alex twice on the phone. Last week and the one before.’

‘Yes, you told me already.’ Oli starts walking to the office, gesturing for him to follow.

He lopes awkwardly along beside her. ‘The first time we spoke was really brief. Just a quick chat.’

‘Right.’ Oli is only half-listening. She can’t stop thinking about Alex being the body they saw hanging from the tree yesterday.

They sidestep a pair of sausage dogs wearing tweed coats.

‘But the second time we spoke was more like a practice interview. Alex wanted to know what I was going to ask her. And I was keen to get my bearings, seeing as I’d never done anything like this before.’

‘And?’

‘And I might have recorded it.’

Oli stops walking. Looks at him.

He smiles tentatively.

‘I could kiss you,’ she says.

Oli and Cooper enter the office via the fire escape and take the stairs two at a time. They’re going to Cooper’s studio, and it’s unspoken that they want to avoid their peers.

‘Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?’ she asks him.

‘I didn’t know Alex was dead, and I didn’t exactly ask her permission to record the call.’

‘Didn’t exactly?’ Oli echoes.

‘Didn’t at all.’ He pulls ahead, and Oli’s breathing intensifies as they hit the fourth floor. ‘Come on,’ he calls out to her unhelpfully.

When they reach level five, he pushes through the heavy door and holds it open for Oli. The walls are completely barren, the threadbare carpet spotless.

‘What’s up here apart from the studio?’ she asks, puffing as she follows him along the corridor toward the rear of the building. Her phone is going bananas, vibrating continuously in her bag.

‘Nothing. We shouldn’t even be up here. There were plans to move everyone here, a while ago, but there was a dispute about the refurb fees so now the landlords are trying to find other companies to move in.’

‘Why would we move up here?’ Oli asks, confused.