Right then, he didn’t care why she was there. All that mattered was that they were sitting in the same room again. The edifice he’d built to protect himself from his feelings for her was already a crumbling ruin. How could he have considered for a moment the possibility of excising her from his life? It was like rediscovering a limb he’d been managing without. A limb he’d thought amputated for ever. He couldn’t keep the grin from his face, even in the teeth of her unflinching glare.

He was aware that Bronwen Scott was speaking but he had nothing to spare for her. He drank in every detail, checking it against the mental checklist he hadn’t even known he’d been keeping. Her hair was styled differently – the lines more blunt, the shagginess thinned out more. The lines around her eyes were deeper, the new traces in her face from sorrow rather than laughter. Her shoulders seemed broader, the seams of her jacket straining slightly where before there had been ample room for a shrug. She’d always been self-contained; now she was like a door slammed in his face.

‘Dr Hill?’ Scott had raised her voice and finally penetrated. ‘We don’t have long. I need your version of events so we can set about getting you out of here.’

‘And finding out who killed those two women,’ Carol said.

‘That’s not my job,’ Scott said briskly. ‘And actually, Carol, it’s not your job any more either.’

Tony found his voice. ‘Maybe not, but I’d put my money on Carol without resources ahead of Alex Fielding and her murder squad.’

Carol rolled her eyes. A familiar gesture but denuded of the tolerant affection he’d grown used to. ‘I couldn’t be less interested in flattery. Like I said, I’m here for Paula.’

Her disdain was hard to take. It made something inside him clench in pain. But it was still better than not having her in the room at all. ‘What do you want to know?’

‘Do you know why DCI Fielding has arrested you?’ Scott thrust herself back into the driving seat.

He nodded. ‘Because she’s one of those cops who can’t see past the evidence. You remember Alan Coren, the humorist? He once told his son, “Don’t write the first thing that comes into your head – the dim kids will have had that idea. Don’t write the second either – the clever boys will probably have thought of that one. Write the third idea – that will be yours alone.” Well, Alex Fielding’s never bothered to give the third idea house room.’

‘Very entertaining, Dr Hill.’ Now it was Scott’s turn to roll her eyes.

‘Tony, please.’ He knew he was showing off but he might never get another chance to remind Carol of what he could be.