‘Spaven definitely knew the victim.’

‘No argument there, Inspector.’ Pause: four beats. ‘You knew one of the Johnny Bible victims – does it mean you killed her?’

‘Come up with her necklace in my flat and ask me again.’

‘Ah, well this is where it gets interesting, isn’t it?’

‘Oh good.’

‘You know the word serendipity?’

‘I pepper my speech with it.’

‘Dictionary definition: the ability to make happy chance finds. Useful word.’

‘Absolutely.’

‘And Lawson Geddes had the gift, didn’t he? I mean, you get an anonymous tip-off about a consignment of stolen clock-radios. So you hoof it over to a garage, no search warrant, no nothing, and what do you find? Leonard Spaven, the clock-radios, and a hat and shoulder-bag – both belonging to the murder victim. I’d call that a very happy chance find. Except it wasn’t chance, was it?’

‘We had a warrant.’

‘Signed retrospectively by a tame JP.’ Ancram smiled again. ‘You think you’re doing all right, don’t you? You think I’m doing all the talking, which means you’re saying nothing incriminating. Well listen, I’m talking because I want you to know where we stand. Afterwards, you’ll have every opportunity for rebuttal.’

‘I’ll look forward to that.’

Ancram referred to his notes. Rebus’s mind was still half on Borneo and those photographs: what the hell could they have to do with Bible John? He wished he’d looked at them a bit harder.

‘I’ve been reading your own version of events, Inspector,’ Ancram went on, ‘and I begin to see why you had your pal Holmes take a good look at them.’ He looked up. ‘That was the idea, wasn’t it?’

Rebus said nothing.

‘See, you weren’t quite a seasoned officer back then, for all Geddes had taught you. You wrote a good report, but you were too conscious of the lies you were telling and the gaps you were having to create. I’m good at reading between the lines, practical criticism if you like.’

Rebus had a picture in his mind: Lawson Geddes shivering and wild-eyed on his doorstep.

‘So here’s how I think it went. Geddes was following Spaven – out on a limb by this time; he’d been ordered off the case. He tracked him to the lock-up one day, waited until Spaven was gone and then broke in. Liked the look of what he saw, and decided to plant some evidence.’

‘No.’

‘So he breaks in again, only this time he has some of the victim’s stuff with him. Now, he didn’t get it from an evidence locker, because according to the records nobody removed a hat or a bag from the victim’s abode. So how did he get it? Two possibilities. One, he waltzed back into her home and took it. Two, he already had it on him, because right from the start he had the idea of fitting up Spaven.’

‘No.’

‘To the first or to the second?’

‘To both.’

‘You’ll stand by that?’

‘Yes.’

Ancram had been leaning further over the desk as he’d made each point. Slowly he sat back again, glanced at his watch.