“No,” Sinead said. “He just thought, since he was one of the local ‘worthies,’ that I might want him… How did he put it? ‘Lending the event a bit of gravitas.’”

“Shut up! He did not!”

“He bloody did,” Sinead confirmed. “Needless to say, I politely declined his generous offer.”

Hamza’s eyes narrowed. “How politely?”

“Not very, if I’m honest,” Sinead admitted. “It was quite impolitely, actually.” She shook her head and sat forward again. “My point is, he’s a man who likes to get his face seen. Does it surprise me that he turns up at the door to introduce himself every time he has new guests? No. Does it surprise me that he didn’t this time? Yes. From what I know of him, that’s completely out of character.”

“Maybe we should bring him in,” Hamza said. “I’d have to run it by DI Forde first, but might be worth having a word with him.”

“I think you’re right,” Sinead said. “Like Logan says, if he’s lying about this, there’s no saying what else he’s lying about.”

Hamza rolled over to his desk again and reached for the phone. “Want to sit in, if we get the go-ahead?”

“Aye,” Sinead said, relieved to have something to take her mind off Tyler, even if only temporarily. “Why not?”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tyler sat on the couch beside Logan, both of them ever so slowly sliding towards the floor. They’d fallen into sync with their pushbacks now, and every few minutes would simultaneously readjust their positions to stop themselves oozing off the cushion and onto the carpet.

It had been a full ten minutes since Hank had left the room to ‘powder his nose,’ and both detectives were starting to get agitated. It had barely been a fortnight since another witness had clambered through a downstairs window and made a run for it to avoid answering questions, and were it not for the clattering and thumping coming from the room next door, Tyler would’ve assumed this one had made a break for freedom, too.

“What’s taking him so long, do you think?” the DC whispered, earning himself a low growl from the dog. She was no longer curled up in the corner, and had instead set herself up on his lap, where she huffed and sighed every time he stopped patting her head.

Logan had a very good idea of why the owner of the flat was taking such a long time to return. He had become upset upon hearing what had happened to Archie and his family, although the sympathies were aimed more at his wife and kids than at Archie himself.