‘Oh, I forgot. He’s a mate of yours, isn’t he? He’s always been an oddball, from what the lads are saying.’

‘It’s a long way from oddball to sexual homicide. And I don’t think he’s capable of it.’

‘Word is he lost the plot after the Jacko Vance business. That’s why Jordan walked away from him. She knew he’d turned.’

All at once, Paula’s moment of doubt became history. She stepped right into Cody’s personal space and jabbed a finger into his chest. ‘Where are you getting this crap from, Cody? Or are you making it up as you go along to wind me up? Jesus Christ,’ she exploded. ‘You sound like one of those tabloid reptiles who go in for trial by headline. Carol Jordan lost her brother. That’s why she walked back from all of us. It’s called grief, you twat.’ She stepped back and turned away from him. ‘It’s got fuck all to do with this.’

‘Take it easy, Sarge,’ Cody said, his voice sarcastic. ‘People’ll think you’ve cracked an’ all.’

‘If I hear you or anyone else talking this kind of shit, I’ll go straight to Fielding with it. That’s a promise.’

Cody gave a soft, dark chuckle. ‘What makes you think it’s not coming from Fielding, Sarge?’ Paula whirled round and crushed out her cigarette against the wall millimetres from his ear. He yelped as hot ash hit the sensitive skin. ‘You mad bitch,’ he yelled.

‘You mad bitch, Sergeant. I’d advise you not to forget either part of that sentence, Cody.’ She turned on her heel and stomped back inside, glad anger had replaced the fear and depression that had been building up all evening.

She found Fielding in her office, packing files into her laptop bag. ‘You should have told me you’d spoken to him about Bev McAndrew going missing.’

‘I know. I’m sorry.’ Paula waited for the bollocking. But to her surprise, Fielding walked away from it.

‘I understand how it happened,’ she said, sounding almost as weary as Paula felt. ‘You’re used to him being inside the tent, it was a natural thing to do.’

‘What do you want me to do now?’

‘Go home. Eat something. Sleep. We’ll go back on the attack in the morning. Hopefully, the fingerprint techs will give us a definite yes rather than “could be”. And we’ll conduct a full search of his home and his office. Do you know if he has a storage unit or a lock-up or something as well as his boat?’

‘No idea.’

‘We’ll check it tomorrow. I’ve got the grunts looking at the CCTV footage to see if we can pick him up anywhere relevant.’

Paula rolled her shoulders to loosen up the tightness that had been building there. ‘Do you really think he did it?’