‘The tape. We went up north to visit the club. Hinton wasn’t trying to give himself an alibi, Britney’s a Geordie, he was meeting her mum. They thought they were far enough away from London to risk a night out together. We missed the point of the tape first off; it’s not about him being in Newcastle, it’s about who he’s with in Newcastle.’

‘So where’s he now, Hinton? Has he surfaced?’

‘Nope. He’s either halfway to Australia or Liddle’s got him. And we can’t find him, either. Unsurprisingly, no one has any idea where he might be.’

‘So what about Farrell? Where does he fit in to this?’

‘It was him who set them up, Hinton and Britney – she’d been to a couple of his raves. She’s quite a lot younger than Liddle; I imagine they were more her scene.’

He was quiet for a couple of seconds – respect for the dead – but then Gid laughed his low, bubbling laugh. ‘Oh, you should have seen Freshwater this afternoon, Guv. He was spitting.’

Chapter Twenty-six

She parked around the corner, as stipulated, and turned off the engine. Silence rushed in, punctured only by the muted hubbub from the playground across the road. A gaggle of kids aged five or six were hanging upside down on the climbing frames like giant, Troll-haired bats, and Robin felt a pang for the days when Lennie was that size, when she still had to lift her up to reach the top bars.

For perhaps the third time in the ten years of Len’s school career to date, Robin was early. This was what life was like when you had nothing to do, she remembered it from two weeks ago – the last time she was unemployed. Time billowed. When you were used to every waking hour being occupied, to find yourself with so much of it was frightening, a kind of temporal agoraphobia.

Twenty to four – school finished at quarter to. Rather than spend five minutes thinking, she steeled herself and rang Kath.

‘Robin? I was just about to call you. I’m outside the hospital, I’ve just been with Pete.’ Her tone said good news even before she did. ‘He’s starting to respond to the antibiotics – his bloods have started coming back better. Last night and this morning – better each time.’

‘Oh – thank god.’

‘I spoke to the consultant. He said if it carries on, they’ll start to lighten the sedation tomorrow morning, try to bring him up. We’re not out of the woods yet, he said, don’t count your chickens, all the usual medical caveats, but it’s looking better. Though, Robin, when he does come out of the coma – if and when – it’s going to be so hard.’ She paused. ‘Samir rang us. He told us about Corinna. What you found out. That it wasn’t Josh.’