I stood by the door watching people enter.

Cameron strutted in. She was wearing a sleek black dress with mesh panels and towering Louboutin heels. Her peroxided blonde hair was slicked back. She looked amazing. She came straight up to me.

‘What the fuck, Lex?’ She cast a glance over what I was wearing. ‘Are those your work clothes? Is that the BlockRelease2000 suit?’

‘I was short on time.’

‘What is it with women letting themselves go as soon as they pop out a kid?’

I gritted my teeth. Working with Cameron meant keeping a hold of your temper was as challenging as the mission itself.

‘Have you located Ling Ling?’ she asked.

‘She’s over there. Front row. No point making a move until the show is over. We won’t be able to get close enough.’

It was nearing 10 p.m. by the time the show actually started. I watched a long parade of skinny women strutting down the catwalk in strange outfits. I didn’t get fashion. I got stuff that looked nice. But who the hell was ever going to wear a dress stuck together with two thin straps and that opened to show your granny pants? The last time I had worn underwear that high was post C-section.

It went on for twenty minutes. Ling Ling was transfixed. Her phone never left her hand, her bag positioned firmly on her lap. Soon as it finished she clapped enthusiastically, nodding to her friends.

‘Now what?’ asked Cameron.

Ling Ling and the rest of the front row were being herded straight along the catwalk and through a large set of double doors.

‘Let’s just try not to lose her.’

The doors opened into a huge room that was already packed. It seemed the people in the know had bypassed the show just for the actual party. I remembered from the blurb that this warehouse used to be a slaughterhouse. The line of giant meat hooks that hung from the ceiling in the centre of the room was an ominous reminder. A headphone-wearing DJ of indeterminate sex, in a tight corset and feathered hat, was dancing in a booth that was fixed halfway up the back wall.

I spotted Ling Ling and her two friends for a moment before they were once again lost in the crowd.

Getting the Dictaphone off Ling Ling in such a crowded place would be easy. If we could actually get close to her. I motioned to Cameron that she take the left side of the room.