‘Yes, Bev was the chief pharmacist. Okeke sent me the file, I’ve skimmed the details. What I want is the human stuff. What was she like?’

‘She was smart. Opinionated, but not pushy. Good company. Her and Elinor, they were very funny when they got talking about their colleagues. You’d be amazed how much pomposity goes on inside a hospital.’

‘I doubt it. I’ve been a cop for twenty years. We’ve got plenty of pompous arseholes of our own. So, was she on your team?’

‘You mean, was she a lesbian?’

Fielding pursed her lips and gave Paula a pissed-off look. ‘Unless there’s another team you’re not telling me about.’

‘As far as I’m aware, she was straight. Her marriage to Torin’s dad didn’t break up because she ran off with another woman.’

‘Why did it break up?’

‘She said Iraq changed him. He began drinking heavily and she felt scared all the time when he was around. He was never actually physically violent towards her or Torin, but he shouted a lot, he was always angry. She felt they were living on a knife edge. Ironically, once they got divorced, they got on better. He had a good relationship with Torin. Bev reckoned having to take responsibility for being a family man was one stress too many, given what he was dealing with on the front line.’

Fielding nodded. ‘That’s squaddies for you. The Army acts like their parents and that’s an easier family to belong to than real live ones, with all their demands and issues. So have we checked that the husband is where we think he is?’

‘I haven’t. I expect PC Okeke made inquiries.’

‘Check it with him. So what kind of social life did Bev have post-divorce? Was she a party animal? Did she have boyfriends?’

‘She’d been out with a couple of guys since the divorce, but nothing recent, according to her colleagues. From my observations, I’d have said she was someone who took her job and her role as a mother seriously, which didn’t leave a lot of room for much else.’

‘But you admitted you didn’t know her that well. What about internet dating? Do you think she might have been into that?’

Paula shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t have thought she was the type. But what do I know? What is the type? Presumably forensics will be able to tell when they have a crack at her computer.’

‘Though God knows when that will be.’ Fielding looked gloomy. ‘Remember when they told us computers would make everything quick and easy? So how come it takes for ever for the geeks to get them to spill their guts?’

‘We never had that problem in the MIT,’ Paula said. ‘We had Stacey Chen.’