‘Thanks, but you’ve done more than enough for us,’ Rachel said. It was a line that could have been taken either way and Elinor clearly got that.

Elinor called their usual taxi firm and Paula escaped to the kitchen. She was staring gloomily into the fridge when Elinor joined her. ‘Taxi’s on its way, thank goodness. She’s hard work, Rachel. I made sandwiches for us all earlier. I’m afraid I used all the ham and cheese and salad.’

Talk of food was a displacement activity that displaced nothing for either of them. Paula closed the fridge. ‘I’m not actually hungry. This has been one of the worst days of my working life. Not quite up there with the Temple Fields ordeal, but pretty damn close.’

‘I can’t believe it. Has Fielding lost her mind? Tony? If I had to compile a list of everyone I know in order of how likely they were to commit murder, I’d put him very near the bottom.’

‘Same here. But she doesn’t know him like we do. To Fielding, he’s just another prospect in a sea of possibilities. But he is the scalp that will make her name. Can you imagine the headlines?’ She shuddered. ‘It’s so ironic. One of the reasons she’s convinced he’s the one is that the victims look a bit like Carol Jordan. According to her armchair psychology, he’s killing surrogates because he can’t have her. But the truth is, the only person Tony would kill for is Carol.’ Paula sighed and opened the fridge again. This time, she took out a pot of yoghurt. She stared at it for a long moment then put it back and closed the door again.

Elinor put her arms around her from behind and kissed the soft skin behind her ear. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

‘I don’t know. I think Fielding’s testing me. Am I good enough to be her bagman? If I put a foot wrong, she’ll have my stripes, maybe even my job. So I have to be very careful not to be seen to be helping Tony. But I can’t just stand by and let this happen to him. I understand exactly how the momentum builds behind an arrest.’

‘The juggernaut of justice.’

‘Exactly. People focus on anything that supports the arrest and dismiss any faint indications of other directions.’ She leaned her forehead on the cool fridge door. ‘I’ve never missed the MIT more.’

‘Carol would know what to do.’

‘Carol would never have arrested Tony in the first place. She’d have viewed the evidence against him as some kind of pointer towards the real killer. Or something.’

‘You need her now. She’d be ferocious as a lioness protecting her cub.’