A few days later a former bartender named Oliver Hart contacted Ellis through his lawyer.

He had been working the private bar that evening and was afraid he would be accused of involvement.

He described receiving contradictory instructions about where to place certain supplies and whom to admit through the back corridor.

He did not claim to have witnessed anyone poison a drink.

What he could identify were the people who had given him instructions.

I met Oliver months later, but I remember the moment I first heard his name.