‘Two jobs, a boyfriend, friends, her mother, social media – you wonder how she’d find the time to get wasted. Though she obviously was feeling the pinch time-wise – when I asked if she’d ever seen Becca under the influence, Lucy said she’d actually barely seen her this year. Three times, she said – once when they went to the sales together, like Valerie said, then twice with Harry, cinema and drinks.’

‘Has she told him about the morphine?’ asked Robin.

‘No. She’s happy to delegate that to us.’

‘He knew about Stevo generally, though? That Becca had had a thing with him?’

‘She says not.’

‘Really? The “besties”?’

‘That’s what I said. But apparently she kept her flings quiet as far as Harry was concerned. If she was actually going out with someone, she told him, obviously, but not the casual things. She cared about that, Lucy said; she didn’t want him to think she was a slapper.’

‘Well, you have to hand it to her,’ said Robin, ‘she’s good at information control. Do we tell him?’

‘Maybe not, if we don’t have to. Why hurt him any more?’

On the table between them, Maggie’s phone rang again. She looked at the screen then at Robin. ‘I’ll go in the back office so you can ring Harry. Wish me luck.’ She closed the door between them. ‘Valerie,’ she said. ‘How are you doing?’

Robin waited for the squeak of the desk chair then brought up Harry’s number. He answered on the second ring. ‘Robin. Is there any news?’

‘Have you got a moment? You’re at the office? Okay. Lucy rang Maggie this morning. I don’t know whether she’s been in touch with you, too?’

‘No.’

‘That’s all right, Maggie said we’d call you.’ She took a breath. ‘They’ve been talking to a guy called Stevo – Steven Cotton. Do you know him?’

‘Of him. I’ve met him once or twice over the years, not a lot. Why?’

‘He says he gave Becca prescription painkillers last summer. Morphine.’

Harry was silent.

‘Did you know?’

The panic was gone. When he answered, his voice was flat. ‘No.’

‘Did you ever see it, do you think? Did you ever see her with pills or did she ever seem out of it? Or anxious?’ Silence at the other end. ‘Or did you ever get the impression she was trying to hide something?’

‘Could you hold on a second?’ Sounds of movement then a door closed. He’d moved into the smaller office. ‘What do you mean by “out of it”?’

‘It’d be similar to heroin, the effects – they’re both opioids. In fact, quite often people who start on prescription painkillers move on to heroin because it’s easier to get on the street. And cheaper.’