‘Last night I didn’t get any sleep,’ I moaned. ‘St Leonards called saying they had arrested him and he asked for me. They were arresting him in connection with the Cupid murders. A police officer from London is missing and they believe he is responsible for her disappearance. They are also investigating allegations following the discovery of a female body in the scrap yard off Bernard Street.’ I reached onto my desk and picked up copies of the photographs Bancho had given me, stuck Blu-Tack on them and attached them to the board.

‘Kelly Adams, deceased air hostess, aged twenty-four. The naked man on top of her, for those of you who haven’t met him, is our client. I don’t have the postmortem photographs, but the cause of death looks as if it was a massive overdose and, before you ask, the needle was still in her neck.’ I paused. ‘Then her heart was removed.’

Joe sat impassively in the front. He had irritated me by reminding me of how much he meant to me, and the only way I knew how to deal with that was by being a cow to him and giving him chores to do–he could bloody well help out by keeping Patsy Barnes busy and off my back. If he wanted female adulation, then I would make sure he got it in spades–just from someone else.

‘There’s something about this case that’s bothering you,’ Joe said. ‘What is it?’

Patsy Barnes picked up her pen, and stared at me. I stared back at her pen. She laid it down again. I looked down at my scuffed bike boots and prayed I had clean clothes for court in the office. Joe knew me too well. Maybe I should have let him in on the identity of Marshall. I had to box clever, and I did what I always do in those situations. I let my mouth run away with me. I nodded at him to let him know he was right, otherwise he would have been like a dog after a bone, and he wouldn’t have given up. ‘The case against Marshall is almost overwhelming. No DNA evidence on any of the bodies except one stray hair of his. These photographs of Marshall and Kelly Adams look to me as if they were taken by a surveillance camera. They were found in DI Sam Jones’s briefcase after she disappeared. But I don’t think she took the photographs. I think they were sent to her and my gut tells me someone is trying to frame Graham Marshall.’