‘It’s not myth-making. It’s acknowledging failure.’

Jacob’s considering expression didn’t alter. ‘He was a clever man, your opponent?’

‘Yes. An exemplar of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. An arch-manipulator.’

‘So, a man perfectly capable of second-guessing whatever tactics you might have chosen to employ against him?’

Tony gripped the arms of his chair. ‘Maybe. You’re saying he would have found a way to circumvent whatever defences I’d constructed?’

‘He had the advantage. He was working in the shadows. In the interstices. It’s impossible to guard against someone like that if they are clever enough and determined enough. He was determined to have his revenge. Or so it seems to me. Does it seem so to you?’

It was an invitation to a shift of perspective. Tony wanted to grasp it, but that very desire made him suspicious. ‘I think I should have stopped him.’

‘You don’t think you might be taking responsibility for the actions of another?’

‘I know I didn’t kill Michael and Lucy. I know I have no direct responsibility for what happened. But I can’t escape the indirect responsibility. It’s what Carol believes too.’

‘If Carol didn’t hold you responsible, do you think you would feel this level of guilt? This is not the first time that victims have died in the course of an investigation you’ve been party to. I’ve sat in this room and listened to your grief on that score. But all I have heard from you in terms of responsibility is a wish that you could have done better or done differently. Not this scourging guilt.’

And this time, Tony had no instant reply. At last, he said, ‘Adler would have had a field day with this, right?’

‘How might he have characterised this, do you think? How would you characterise it if a patient presented with this shift in their belief system?’

‘I’d think it was hubris. I had a friend once. She knew me when I was a teenager. She was kind to me, but she thought I needed toughening up. She used to say, “You’re like a man with a big nose who thinks everybody’s talking about him. Well, they’re not, and the sooner you thicken that skin of yours, the happier you’ll be.”’

‘Was she right, do you think?’

Tony gave a rueful chuckle. ‘I don’t think I ever learned the lesson. I’ve always thought that was why I had such powerful empathy.’

Jacob nodded, so slight a movement that Tony wondered whether he’d imagined it. ‘And still you haven’t answered the question. If Carol didn’t hold you responsible, do you think you would feel this level of guilt?’

‘Probably not.’ The honesty was hard but there was no point in being here if he didn’t try.