He was waiting for her downstairs. He was wearing the same shirt and trousers as earlier, and looked like a knackered copper after a fuck of a day.

‘You haven’t been home?’

‘Nah. I should have a bed in the office really. We’ve got this army cot thing, and I have been known to bed down for the night. Don’t worry, there’s a shower room and I’ve got a locker.’

‘So, where is home now?’ She had no idea why she asked. She supposed it was her turn to make polite conversation.

‘About ten minutes that way this time of night, and an hour in the morning.’ He nodded towards Hampstead Heath.

‘Nice.’

‘It’s about as nice as I could afford.’

‘I don’t know; with London weighting, you can’t be struggling.’ She nodded to the iPad under his arm. ‘Do you ever turn that off?’

He shook his head, and Kelly knew they were bedfellows of habit: she never turned hers off either.

‘Come on, there’s a great Japanese place along here.’ He pointed down the main road, which to Kelly looked like every other road in the capital, the skyline dominated by high-rises and office blocks. She couldn’t remember feeling this claustrophobic when she’d worked here.

Matt slipped his iPad inside a smart black mini briefcase with a shoulder strap, and they began to walk, passing high-end restaurants, dive snooker halls, deserted parks, gleaming Bentleys, and people asleep under cardboard in doorways, all cohabiting in disharmonious harmony.

The restaurant looked busy and the buzz flowed out onto the street when he held the door open for her. The music was a chilled mix, more appropriate to a beach hut, but super-relaxing. They were shown to a booth and handed menus. Kelly had clocked the sushi as she walked in and it stimulated her taste buds. A few beers and some sweet-savoury fish, along with delicate salads and noodles, was a treat indeed. There was a new sushi place in Keswick, but she and Johnny hadn’t tried it yet. She felt a pang of guilt, but she was dining out with a work colleague, that was all.

‘It sounds like you’ve got a solid team up there, Kelly.’

‘I have. We’re tight. I don’t know how you remember everybody’s names in that place.’ It was true: the number of daily assigned officers was phenomenal, and then there were the regulars who worked shifts. ‘There are only five of us, and I like it.’

‘You seemed to cope all right when you were here. Has your memory slipped?’

She glared at him.

‘So, what sort of things have you investigated since the trafficking case?’

‘A few punchy cases. We tick along.’ She wasn’t about to be pulled into a cock-off. She studied the menu.

‘I heard about your mother. I’m sorry.’