‘Come!’ she interrupts, pulling me along behind her. ‘Tea please, Gabe,’ she barks to the assistant waiting outside her office, all glass panels in the back corner of the newsroom. ‘And some breakfast … What would you like? Bacon sandwiches? Pastries? Gosh … both I think … Just get us the full works,’ she shouts over her shoulder, tossing her hair, Gabe disappearing in a blur to my left.

Before I know it, I’m on her fat purple sofa, the one reserved for the big guns, with her perched on the armchair opposite. Perky, plump and velvet, this is a sofa that thinks it’s seen it all.

‘You’ve contributed to a truly outstanding piece of journalism, Marie,’ she says, leaning forward. ‘Jemima explained your role in all this … Absolutely remarkable. I was frankly astonished not to have met you before. You should be incredibly proud of yourself. I’m confident we can effect some real change with this. It will put the Met in a terribly uncomfortable position… As it should, of course…’

I try not to fidget as she smiles, tangling a hand in the necklace gleaming on her collarbone, all different shapes awkwardly locked together.

‘It’s quite an achievement for someone at your level to be involved 45in something like that. It’s quite an achievement for any journalist…’

She keeps staring at me even as the door opens, and in chugs a trolley of steaming tea and paper bags. I swallow as my mouth waters. I can always eat at work. I shake my head as the door closes again, as if the trolley came in by itself. Lucky there are a few seconds of crackle and crunch to spare as Olivia settles back into her chair, waving a sandwich.

‘So, tell me. Is this your first job in journalism? Did you have any experience before you came to us at Nine?’

I choke on a mouthful of tea as the door opens again. This time her head turns.

‘Morning, Liv,’ Dominic trills. ‘Oh sorry, didn’t mean…’ He tails off as he spots me.

‘Dominic! Join us!’ Her baguette points towards me on the sofa. ‘Didn’t I tell you to lie in? Oh, never mind…’

I look into my mug as he sits down. Back to feeling like a fraud now he’s here. He’s the one who did all the real work. I just watched it happen. And we’re both complicit until we do something about it.

‘I was just getting to know Marie,’ Olivia says as she pushes the bags of food forward again. ‘Help yourself. Gabe got enough to feed the whole newsroom, as usual … Honestly, the man is such a blunt instrument sometimes…’

Dominic snorts as he grabs a pastry.