The door opens and we see Mimi again. I look behind her, confirming that the rug in the foyer is indeed awesome. A tripod on the rug supports her phone. Based on Ani’s TUSC profile, I’m guessing that Mimi was filming a TikTok video.
‘Hi, girls.’ Mimi has a nice, friendly smile. The décor is straight out of a fairy-tale – Mom would love it. Maybe when all of this is over we could show Mom the interior designs. ‘How sad is the news about your dad?’
‘Not that sad, if you were filming a video,’ Ani utters under her breath. She also isn’t smiling. For that, I un-smile.
‘It’s so sad to lose a family member. My uncle – well, I was pretty young when he was killed – but it devastated my whole family.’ Mimi shakes her head then tries to smile. ‘I find it so sweet that your family has reunited. I think –’
Ani holds up a card that acts as her TUSC credentials, which is a library card covered over and with her picture stuck on.
Mimi’s smile falters as she squints at Ani’s card. ‘Oh. Are you trying to solve the mystery of Mrs K’s murder?’
‘Yes,’ Ani abruptly says.
Mimi’s eyes wander over to me. ‘Hi. I’m so sorry, I didn’t get your name.’
I give her a small smile. ‘My name is Riri.’
‘Oh, I love that name! I’m Mimi. Mimi, Riri.’ She giggles. I giggle back, something I didn’t know that I could do. Human beings, it turns out, can change.
‘Can we come in?’ Ani grumpily asks.
‘I thought I’m supposed to be asking the questions here,’ I tell her through gritted teeth.
‘If you can wipe the drool off your chin, then by all means.’
Shaking my head at Ani’s silliness, I follow Mimi into the house, Ani behind me.
The house’s interior is quirky. It’s a mix of neon and furry fabrics, with horseback riding influences – there are a few horseshoes hanging on the wall, and some pictures of a younger Mimi posing with a horse in front of the brightest greenery. I’ve always wanted to ride a horse. The entire house smells of vanilla and oranges. It’s beautiful!
Well, except for the hole in the middle of the floor.
‘Uh, Mimi?’ I ask. ‘What’s with – uh that?’ I point at a glass vase with detailed overglazed decorations painted on it, positioned on a stand above the hole in the floor.
Mimi groans. ‘Oh, is it that obvious? I thought covering it with the vase would hide it. Basically I was dancing with some friends on a creaky floorboard. It was the worst night ever because then there was a leak and next thing I know, there’s a hole in the floor! It’ll be fixed soon. Well, I hope so. I drilled some feet over the hole so the vase can hide it, just in case.’
‘Oh.’ What else can I say?
‘So, how can I help you girlies?’ Mimi motions for us to sit on her pink furry sofa. She sits opposite us, on a neon green armchair.
I clear my throat. ‘Mimi, can we ask you a couple of questions about Mrs Kostas?’
‘Of course. Anything to help. Sorry again about your dad.’
Ani turns to face me, giving me my cue, which is off-putting but I power through and tell Mimi, ‘We have some routine questions to ask.’
‘Fire away.’
‘First, please be aware that you are being recorded.’
‘Anything for the TUSC,’ Mimi says. ‘By the way, I love the accent.’ I don’t mean to, but I blush at that. I try to control myself from full-on fangirling over her.
‘What did you think of Mrs Kostas? Like, how was your relationship?’
‘Aw, Mrs K was the best. She gave me a casual contract to work at the cafe last summer. Big help for me to get some extra cash.’
Ani says, ‘You only did about five shifts though, right?’
‘Six. She was the sweetest; she knew I was struggling financially and she offered.’
I ask, ‘So why weren’t you called to cover when the baristas were off sick?’
She winces. ‘Because I quit. Unavailability. No animosity. I just need more time to upload and edit my pictures and videos.’
‘Where were you between around 4 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. nineteen days ago?’
‘Nineteen days ago?’
Ani answers, ‘The day of the murder. We’re going to solve the murder and save Dad.’
‘Go, girls! So first, I went to the cafe for my morning coffee, at around 9 a.m. It was so busy. Then, after a whole day of shooting, I went back there to have a late lunch. Probably around 3.30 p.m. I stayed until around 5 p.m.’
‘Then you went back for the third time that day, coinciding with me and Riri. That’s why you said to Rodolfo, “See you, Rodolfo. Maybe for the fourth time today.”’
‘Yes! What a day – I was so exhausted that I went to Cafe Vivlio again. This time to get a green tea latte, something to calm me down. That was just after 6 p.m. I finished my drink quickly then dashed out. After that, I returned.’
‘Returned from where?’
‘The newsagents next door to the cafe. I picked up a magazine subscription.’
I revisit my memories of when I first met Mimi. It wasn’t long after meeting Derek and Frankie. ‘But you weren’t carrying anything in your hands,’ I remember.
‘Right. It’s because I forgot my purse. I needed to transfer money from the card in my purse to the card on my phone. That’s why I went back to the cafe. What a faff! Derek’s footage will show me going in and coming out of the newsagents. Thank goodness he vlogs everything. Do you know how many boring days he’s vlogged where he’s done nothing?’
Ani chuckles. ‘Yep.’
I shake my head and say to Mimi, ‘But Derek was facing the window inside the cafe during his live vlog.’
Mimi presses her lips into a thin line. ‘Not his vlog. I’m talking about the videos he records on his phone in his other hand. Don’t ask me why he does it – “for posterity”, or something. But I’m definitely in that shot when I was out of the cafe before I saw him enter.’
‘OK.’ Ani takes over my questioning. ‘Did you pay on cash or card?’
‘Card.’
I try to catch Ani’s gaze of steel. She’s cornering Mimi with her words so I’m gonna take over. I think I know what Ani’s trying to get out of Mimi. ‘Mimi, would you mind showing us the time that you paid for the magazine? From there, we can amend our timeline.’
‘Sure.’ Mimi unlocks her phone.
‘No, Riri, wrong question,’ Ani says. I raise my eyebrows, confused. I was certain it was the right one. ‘Mimi, can you tell us the time that your first attempt of payment failed?’
Ohh, I see my questioning fault. Hats off to Ani because that’s ingenious.
Mimi scrolls. ‘Here . . . the attempted payment was at 6.13 p.m. Then, I tried again at 6.15 p.m.’
‘How about at specifically 4.30 p.m. that day?’
Mimi smiles at us both, her pearly-white teeth gleaming. ‘I was editing some clips on the most amazing app ever, SparxPix.’
‘Prove it,’ Ani challenges, sounding rather friendly.
‘I’ll do just that.’ Again, Mimi unlocks her phone. And she proves herself, yet again. Mimi chuckles at me and Ani. ‘You two are prying hard. No stone unturned. I like it.’
‘It’s a formality.’ It sounds like Ani is well practised in the textbook things to say in these situations.
‘So, you’re questioning the others?’
‘Who exactly are the others?’ I ask her. Of course, I know who “the others” are – I just want to hear who they are to her. Even Ani looks impressed as she turns her lips downwards at me. Maybe I am meant to be a sleuth, after all.
‘Oh, you know. Me, Derek and Fred. The police asked me who was in the cafe between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. I’m pretty sure I remember it being only me, Fred and Derek. Rodolfo had gone out for a quick smoke break but was otherwise busy in the kitchens and at the counter. I only remember who was there then because it was unusually quiet in the cafe.’
‘Did you ever get your purse back?’ I ask. ‘When you came back in after leaving.’
She smiles and blushes. ‘Yes . . . Derek helped me find it after you two left.’ Looking down, she bites her lip. Then, she lets out a lovey-dovey breath. ‘We might still be in love.’
‘Oh. Congratulations?’
‘Well, I don’t know for sure. Nothing’s ever plain and simple with Derek.’
I smile then look over at Ani. ‘Is that all?’ I discreetly ask her. (Well, as discreetly as I can be).
‘Quickfire round. Then motive,’ Ani whispers back.
‘Oh yeah,’ I say. ‘Where were you born, Mimi?’
‘London.’ She looks and sounds like she’s giving a tele-vision interview as if she’s a famous person.
‘True or false: Mrs Kostas was born in Athens.’
‘True. Love Athens. I want to go some day.’
‘Did you know Mrs Kostas by any other name?’
‘Other names?’ She does another nervous giggle. I don’t know why but I echo the giggle again. Ani sharply clears her throat at me. ‘I don’t know. Polly? She never let me call her that. It was nice though, made me feel like a child again.’
‘Out of curiosity, Mimi, who would you kill for? You know, to protect. If you were hypothetically in that position.’
‘Oh, intense question. My family, for sure.’
‘Right. And-we-so . . . we were thinking about . . . well, a couple of –’
Ani covers my mouth with her cold hand. It smells of bubblegum. ‘Mimi, we have reason to believe that your motive for killing Mrs Kostas –’ Mimi gasps – ‘is for you to become a viral sensation that lives forever on the internet.’
I carefully watch Mimi’s emotions and by our accusation alone, she’s upset.
‘Not to mention the fact that your videos are not going viral and that you desperately want to be famous,’ Ani adds. ‘And Mrs Kostas’s social media accounts for Cafe Vivlio had way more likes and followers than any of yours.’
Mimi kicks us out of her house, citing outrage at our accusations as her reasoning.
As we’re walking on the street, Ani sniggers. ‘Well, that was eventful. Let’s interrogate our last suspect.’ She leads the way.
‘Our last suspect out of The Clio Trio,’ I whisper when she’s out of earshot.
I just know we’re going to prison before we’ve even solved this case. How? Well, Ani is practically begging for someone to see us and call the police because she’s publicly damaging Derek’s window!
‘Ani!’ I hiss with wide eyes. Holding her wrists, I try to shake the pebbles free from her hands. ‘You can’t throw pebbles at his window!’
‘I can too. Derek says he’s a deep sleeper and it’s the only way to wake him.’ Ani blows in my face. Cool, bubblegum-flavoured air throws me off-kilter – I let go of her wrists.
She throws one pebble at Derek’s window. Then another. One more before it works.
‘What-what-what, yarr?’ Derek hollers, pointedly looking down from his window at Ani. ‘You do know that I have to get my beauty sleep, don’t you?’
‘Derek, Toby broke up with you because of your vanity, remember,’ Ani reminds him. My mouth widens at her cheekiness. ‘People don’t like vanity.’
Derek scrunches his face up at Ani. ‘Yarr, why are you always in my business?’
Their weird big-brother-little-sister bond is a peculiar one, but it’s both entertaining and heart-warming to watch. They’re definitely solid with each other.
She smiles at him. ‘I’m about to get even further in your business. Let us in?’
‘Fine, whatever. First, let’s clear the air. I didn’t tell you about my new series because I wanted to surprise you. You’re gonna be the guest-of-honour of the first ever episode, yarr.’
Ani’s eyes show that she wants to jump up and down at that. Instead, she nods once, keeping her cool. ‘I always knew you were one of the real ones. Now, let us in!’
He mutters something under his breath then shuts the window. Next thing we know, he opens the door. I find it hilarious that he doesn’t wait for us to enter – he’s already past the foyer while we’ve barely set foot in his home. I look around, taking in the guitars hanging on the walls and the framed vinyl records. Why does Derek have the house of a rockstar? I have to clamp my mouth shut at the spiral staircase. Wow, two loops like a rollercoaster!
‘So, how are we gonna do this?’ I ask Ani as we walk in sync through the foyer. The house smells of his cologne that is a combination of vanilla and tobacco.
‘It takes a while to get used to the smell,’ Ani says, and I realise that she can see my nose wrinkling.
She raises her eyebrows at me as if she’s wondering where I got the audacity to ask that question. ‘We are doing nothing. I’ll be questioning Derek. You keep your trap shut.’
‘Why? I did great with Mimi.’
‘Frankie stays over at Derek’s house in the summer. He might arrive mid-questioning and I can’t have you losing your cool. Like you did with Mimi.’
I blow out a breath – I kind of did, but it was my first interrogation so she should cut me some slack – and look around so I’m nonchalantly looking at my reflection in the mirror in Derek’s kitchen. My reflection tells me to smooth out the crinkles at the top of my hijab, but other than that, I don’t look so bad. On another note, why does Derek have a mirror in his kitchen? ‘Fine.’ I follow her through the foyer, ignoring the fact that Ani is familiar inside Derek’s house. It makes me so jealous, how close she is with people in Castlewick. In California, people are nice but we’re not that close. Maybe it’s because it’s bigger or just the way most of us are. Without a doubt, me and Ani have lived opposite lives. I wonder how that’s shaped us into who we are today.
‘Derek, Derek, Derek.’ Ani sounds disappointed as she looks around his kitchen. She opens the fridge and reaches for the mango juice. I wish she offered me one. But then she slides something over to me that’s wrapped in a paper towel. The smell – cumin – gives it away – jeera biscuits! I grin at her and take a few bites.
‘What, Ani? You and your twin think I killed Mrs Kostas? Yarr, do I even have the guts to kill someone? Seriously, do I? You tell me.’
Ani shrugs. ‘It’s always the ones you least expect, isn’t it?’
‘Fine. Then you owe me for the mango juice.’ Derek glances at me and then at the crumbs of my jeera biscuits. ‘And you owe me for the crumbs. Another thing – can you control Ani? I’m weirded out by your kid sister acting so familiar in my crib.’ Ani rolls her eyes. On the way over here, she mentioned she’d be overly friendly with Derek so he wouldn’t suspect her accusations. Basically, Ani’s supposed to be good cop and I’m bad cop. She said she wants Derek to feel the betrayal Mrs Dimas/Kostas would’ve felt during the argument.
‘Can we talk business now?’ I ask.
Derek motions for me to hang on while he puts a couple of ingredients in his blender. He’s standing at the island in the middle of his huge kitchen. ‘Protein shake. Great for the bones.’
‘Stop stalling,’ Ani snaps, standing opposite him at the island. I slowly walk over to be beside her. ‘How did you know what we were coming here to accuse you of?’
‘Mimi texted me.’
‘Why would Mimi text you?’ Ani asks. ‘You’re not together anymore.’
Derek shrugs and sips his shake for a suspiciously long time. Me and Ani both watch him, waiting for his answer. ‘We had a nice chat while I was helping her find her purse that day. Since then, we’ve been talking like friends.’
Ani is glaring at Derek. Clearly she doesn’t think Derek with Mimi will make a good couple. I have no opinion.
I say, ‘Who do you remember being in the cafe on the day of the murder at 4.30 p.m.?’
Derek looks up as he recalls: ‘Me, Fred, Mimi and Rodolfo. But Rodolfo left at that time to take a quick smoke break.’
Ani looks suspicious. ‘Derek, can we see the footage from your live vlog and your other video on the day Mrs Kostas was murdered?’
‘Oh, you know about my posterity shots? Long after I’m gone, those’ll be sold at auctions, yarr. Timestamped and dated.’
‘Motive?’ me and Ani mouth to each other, synchronously. Greed indeed.
‘Like behind-the-scenes of my live videos as I film a couple of scenes to know which to cut,’ he explains despite us not asking.
I frown. ‘Doesn’t that imply that they’re planned? I thought lives are supposed to be, you know, unplanned . . .’
Derek gives me a funny look. ‘California, don’t overstep.’
I look over at Ani, unsure if Derek’s joking or not.
Ani chuckles. ‘Can we watch them? And try not to scare “California”.’
‘My name is Riri,’ I say.
Now, it’s Derek who chuckles. ‘Yarr, there’s only one Riri and that ain’t you.’
‘Just show us the videos.’
Wordlessly Derek leads us on his huge leather sofa to show us them.
Ani says, ‘Fred can be seen typing on his laptop through the window. He doesn’t do email because he’s weird. That typing energy doesn’t look like research so it’s safe to say he was writing his screenplay.’ She curses. ‘Would it have killed Fred to have told us that?! Why does he have to be so complicated?’
‘Well, Mimi told the truth.’ I point to the paused shot of her focused on her phone. She was on SparxPix, editing. ‘No sign of Rodolfo leaving to have his smoke break, though.’
‘Hmm.’ Ani thinks. Me and Derek look at her, expectantly. ‘Your videos stop at –’ she squints, focusing on the timestamp – ‘4.29.59 p.m. That is one second away from 4.30 p.m., so the murder might’ve happened without any preparation.’
‘Or remorse,’ I add. ‘But we knew about Derek entering the cafe within the minute.’
‘And the time of death is allegedly 4.30 p.m. – other things could’ve happened. It could’ve stopped working or lost connection. Maybe the battery died. It was off when I you-know-what.’ She refers to when she removed Mrs Dimas/Kostas’s Apple Watch from her body.
I sigh. ‘So, we’re back to square one.’
‘Because any of the three could’ve done it. How long does it take to push someone down a hillock? It can’t be very long.’
Derek is busy scrolling and double-tapping on his phone. He literally looks so preoccupied that I’m certain he didn’t hear anything we said.
Ani whistles at him and he frowns, stubbornly. ‘Where were you born, Derek?’
‘On this street.’
‘Did Mrs Kostas tell you where she was born?’
‘Athens. But, listen to this, I went on holiday to Greece last year, do you remember?’
Ani thinks for a beat. ‘Oh yeah. With Toby, right?’
‘Yeah, I was going to do some modelling for this Grecian fashion brand, no big deal. Their headquarters is at Alexandroupolis, right? She told me she was born there. Then I told her I thought it was Athens and she quickly corrected herself.’
Ani and I exchange a glance. Interesting. So, she sometimes mixed up her aliases.
‘Why did you come back to Cafe Vivlio that day? Twice in one day is a lot for a busy person like you,’ Ani says.
‘Yarr, can we plead the Fifth in the UK?’
‘Nope. Now spill.’
Derek spends an alarming amount of time humming and hawing before admitting, ‘My live vlog didn’t upload. So . . . I rerecorded it.’
Ani frowns so hard that it turns into a glare. ‘You rerecorded a live video?’
Derek takes another sip of his protein shake. He’s clearly stalling. Does that mean he’s hiding a big, bad truth? Groaning, he said, ‘I – not all of my lives are live. I . . . prerecord them and there’s a mirror recording the recorded video when I go live. I-it’s getting too much. I can’t always be live for my viewers. Life, you know.’ He rubs his face.
‘I’ve lost a lot of respect for you now,’ Ani admits. ‘How did you become a silent partner for Cafe Vivlio?’
He visibly freezes at that information. ‘How – what makes you think that?’
‘Maybe be careful when you’re arguing over secret things in public,’ I suggest.
‘Riri, let me handle this.’ Ani turns to Derek, glaring. ‘You were silent partners with Mrs Kostas for Cafe Vivlio and we have audio of you arguing with her the day before she died. You were so mean! Explain that! And tell the truth, unlike your inauthentic vlogs, otherwise I’ll give the audio to the Police Sergeant.’
‘Calm down, Ani, geez! We were just talking shop. Nothing wrong with business partners disagreeing and losing tempers. If anything, it’s normal.’
‘So, you admit that you are – were – Mrs Kostas’s silent partner?’
‘Oh yeah, so as my viewership was growing, people came from all over to see the place where DerekChasesThe-Globe gets his daily coffee from, yeah? Because I was responsible for the growing tourism at the cafe, I asked Mrs Kostas about owning half of it.’
‘How did that conversation go?’ I ask. ‘And how long ago was it?’
‘It went well. In fact, she seemed relieved. And, California, I became her silent partner – officially – about six months ago.’
‘Did you know Mrs Kostas by any other name?’ Ani asks.
He chews his lip in thought. ‘She might’ve mentioned that her old surname was Dimas.’ My eyes widen. She was close with Derek then. ‘Can’t remember if it was her maiden name or her ex-husband’s name.’
‘Talk to us about that argument, yarr. And if you don’t remember, I can play it.’
Derek licks his lips then clenches his jaw. ‘Ani, I remember what I said. I have a great memory. What’s there to know? It was between two business partners. Sure, harsh things were said, but I can’t go back in time.’
‘If you could –’ I speak slowly – ‘would you?’
‘Yes.’ He swallows. ‘Yes, I would. It was about opening up a Cafe Vivlio branch in London. I even spoke to a team there who were happy to manage it –’
‘Without her permission?’ I ask.
‘Ugh, no wonder you got burnt with her words,’ Ani utters.
‘That’s true.’ I look at Derek. ‘But what are the chances that you talk about Mrs Kostas’s death the day before she’s murdered?’
‘I’m not a gambling man but I’d say that’s a one-in-a-million chance and obviously not the good kind.’ Derek’s voice sounds firmer. ‘I shouldn’t have said it.’
Ani looks at me. She mouths something so fast I miss it.
‘What?’ I mouth back.
She sighs before mouthing it again, faster than before.
‘Ani, just say it normally, please.’
‘So, you’re a speed-reader but not a mouth reader? I said, “I think we’re done here.”’
‘Cool. Can you two get out now?’ Derek finishes his protein shake. ‘Might have some company coming round.’
‘Not yet, yarr.’ Ani changes her tactic. ‘Now I remember what I was going to say. Out of curiosity, who would you kill for? You know, to protect.’
‘My followers.’
‘Ugh, you’re so cheesy. You’re aware we were voice recording all this, right?’
He clicks his tongue. ‘I’m most comfortable being recorded. That’s where I live. Yo, what else is new?’
‘What’s new is your motive for killing Mrs Kostas,’ Ani smoothly says. ‘There’s so much information from that recorded argument. Your threats, mentioning her death, abusing your role as a silent partner – should I go on?’
Derek looks like he’s trying to find the punchline. ‘Uh-uh. Don’t be accusing me in my own crib.’
‘Then come out in the street. Because there’s a whole law about this. The Partnership Act 1890. Dead partner means dead partnership. But that’s not what you said in the recording. You thought you’d get full ownership upon her death. But you won’t. Instead, it’ll be the beneficiary or beneficiaries of her will. Unless you had a written formal agreement. Did you?’ Derek briefly looks panicked.
Then I loudly accuse, ‘That would make for a great first episode of your unsolved mystery series!’
Derek laughs us all the way out of his house.
‘This is almost conclusive,’ Ani says. I can hear the dry grass crunch beneath her feet. The warm air whistles and messes up her hair. The strong smell of wildflowers greets my nostrils, making me sneeze.
‘Almost?’
‘Let’s dig deeper in Fred’s alibi first. Then Derek’s.’
‘Why Derek second? He’s the silent partner and we have the audio of the fight!’
‘I’d like to think that the police can easily find out he was Mrs Kostas’s silent partner. That makes him the biggest suspect. That’s too obvious and I have a hunch about him.’
I tilt my head. ‘Are you sure you aren’t fixating on Fred because you’re friendly with Derek and Mimi and you don’t want it to be either of them?’
Ani glowers at me. ‘No! I’m trying to be unbiased here. I have a hunch about Fred. It’s in my gut.’
‘Fine, then what about Mimi?’
‘Inconclusive. The call log and online banking check out. But you can manipulate timestamps on some phones.’
‘Have you ever heard that story about her uncle before?’
Ani bites her thumbnail. ‘. . . I don’t think so.’
‘She sounded like she wanted to talk more about it. You cut her off when you showed her your credentials. Should we go back? Maybe we should apologise to her as well.’
Ani gives me a long look. ‘You just want to go back to her house, don’t you? For shame, Riri – you were just trying to paint me as a biased supersleuth a minute ago. There’s no room for favourites in a murder investigation.’
I roll my eyes, wondering how she can sometimes be spot-on and sometimes so laughably off-target. ‘Are you saying it’s nothing?’
‘Everything is something, Riri.’ I don’t realise that she’s ringing Mimi until she puts it on speakerphone. ‘Hi, Mimi. TUSC Director, Ani Tariq here.’
Mimi sounds sad, ‘To what do I owe the pleasure again?’
‘We’re sorry –’ I quickly say, before Ani makes it worse – ‘for our behaviour.’
Mimi’s quiet for a few long seconds before she answers. ‘It’s all right. What’s up?’
‘My associate wants to express her condolences about what happened to your uncle.’
‘Aw, thank you.’
‘So . . .’ I say. ‘What happened?’
Mimi lets out a shaky breath that crackles through the phone. ‘My uncle’s death was a shock. Everyone coped in their own ways. We used to be rich, but my childless aunt drove herself mad and bankrupt trying to find the truth and it ruined my dad to watch her do that. Then my dad drank to cope with all the responsibilities. He ran away, leaving just me and Mom. She spent what was left of our money on parties, clothes and cars. We fell out and I wish I could have the reunion you’re having. I hope I become famous. Maybe that will give me and my mom a reunion too. Until then, I’ll keep wearing this necklace to remember my family, the good and the bad.’
I remember her amethyst necklace. ‘I’m sorry.’ I thought we had it bad in our family, but that’s nothing compared to what Mimi’s been through.
‘Oh, it’s OK,’ Mimi says, although she sounds emotional, sniffing a few times. ‘It was nice telling you both. Is there anything else?’
‘No.’ Ani hangs up. She tells me, ‘We’re far from closing this case but at least the interrogations are leaving us further from nothing.’ I’ve realised that she’s got a signature focus face – eyebrows knitted down, lips moving but no words coming out, eyes looking off into the distance. I watch Ani walk in front of me and follow with a small smile on my face, appreciating and amazed by her.