He glanced at the wall. ‘Are you?’

She looked up and saw a sign for the Renal Outpatients Unit.

‘Robin, look,’ he said. ‘I have to back my team. I chose Webster to lead, now I have to trust him to do the job. It’s one of the hardest parts of having a senior role, you know that. Especially with this case.’

She opened her mouth to say something – Oh, sod off with your ‘senior role’ – but he wasn’t finished. ‘I wanted to say to you – I’ve been trying to say – I was really sorry to hear what happened at the Met.’

By the time the cab turned into Dunnington Road, it was twenty past midnight. She’d told Lennie she’d be back after she went to sleep, and Christine and Dennis were usually in bed by half ten so it was a surprise to see the glow of the standard lamp through the downstairs curtains. What fresh hell? She paid the cab and let herself in as quietly as she could.

Dennis was in the armchair, the Post on his lap, a rerun of QI muted on TV. She closed the internal door behind her. ‘What are you doing up, Dad?’

‘Oh, I wanted to make sure you got back okay.’

‘I catch dangerous criminals, remember? Or used to.’

‘You’re still my daughter.’ He dropped the Post on the little table and stood up. ‘Do you want a drink? I’m going to have a Scotch.’

‘Really? Yes, please.’

He padded to the kitchen, where she heard him get the stool to reach the top cupboard. Wine and beer could live at eye level but Christine kept the spirits tucked away up there, as if their corrupting power were too strong for casual exposure.

He returned with the bottle under his arm, holding a finger between the glasses to stop them clinking. Sounds like that reached her mother like bat signals. ‘How was he?’ he said.

‘Bad. Worse than I thought. Will told me but I hadn’t really … He’s on a ventilator.’

‘Good god. That poor little thing.’

‘I went to pieces.’ She gestured at her face, as if he might not have noticed. Dennis handed her a glass and sat down next to her. ‘Then Samir showed up.’

A flicker of alarm crossed his face. ‘Why?’

‘Basically to beg me to tell him something that meant Josh didn’t do it. They all think he did.’

‘They?’

‘The police. Him. Will and Di.’