For the first 13 days of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance, Saudi Arabia held fast to its official position: We had no involvement; he left the consulate safely; any suggestion we are responsible is a political smear.

But last night things began to shift. Under intense pressure from Washington and business leaders around the world, Riyadh now appears to be preparing to acknowledge that Mr Khashoggi was in fact killed inside the consulate.

The narrative they plan to present, according to the New York Times, is that the Saudi government ordered its operatives to interrogate Mr Khashoggi but that something went wrong and the journalist was accidentally killed.

Panicked spies then reportedly hid his body and launched a cover-up, unbeknownst to Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and country's de facto leader. The person who will be blamed is described as “a Saudi intelligence official who was a friend of the crown prince”.

The explanation has a clear appeal: it allows Saudi Arabia to concede (in the face of what appears to be overwhelming Turkish evidence) that Mr Khashoggi was killed, but shields the crown prince from responsibility.