Maggie gave a detailed account of the morning, repeating what Grace had said about Benji not being as enamoured with Poppy as Imogen thought he was; Imogen being falsely accused of bullying Julia back when they were at school; Byford not finding anything in his search of Benji’s room; the row about viewing the body. She also told them Benji’s dad wasn’t dead after all.

‘Why would you make up something like that?’ asked Burton.

‘Embarrassment, I guess,’ said Maggie, who having watched Lou struggle with the humiliation of her ex-husband leaving to set up home with another woman, understood why Imogen hid the truth. Self-preservation. ‘There doesn’t seem to be any sinister reason for her lying.’

‘Yeah, but telling Benji he’s dead is a bit cruel. What if he suddenly showed up asking to see him?’

‘That’s what I said, but it sounds like he’s done a complete runner,’ said Maggie, reaching over and helping herself to a crisp from the packet Burton was holding. ‘Did you ask Poppy about the fight with Benji?’

‘That’s for round two, once our child whisperer here has softened her up again,’ said Renshaw, poking Burton in the arm. ‘If we go straight in with it she’ll clam up again.’

‘What if history has repeated itself?’ mused Burton. ‘One mum bullies the other at school, then their kids have a similar fall-out years later, only this time one of them dies. What if Poppy found out her mum got beaten up by Benji’s and turned against him because of it?’

‘Well, that scenario sounds more likely than Benji taking up the baton for his mum, because she hardly remembers Julia,’ said Maggie.

‘What, she’s forgotten bullying her?’ asked Renshaw, frowning.

‘She’s saying she can’t recall and Grace told me the school believed Imogen over Julia anyway. Imogen remembers some kids having playground spats but doesn’t recall any specific incidents involving Julia,’ Maggie explained. ‘But is it really a surprise if Imogen is woolly on details? I’m ten years younger than her and I struggle to picture most of the kids from my class when I was eleven, let alone remember stuff I said or did to them –’

The expression on Renshaw’s face made her stop.

‘Lucky for you,’ Renshaw said bitterly. ‘I remember mine only too well. Being called copperknob, Duracell, ginger nut and carrot head day in, day out tends to stick in your mind. The teasing was so bloody relentless I once tried to shave off all my hair with my mum’s Ladyshave. Didn’t work.’

Burton laughed but Maggie was more surprised than amused. She found it hard to imagine Renshaw ever being picked on. If anything, she’d have put money on her being the antagonist – Renshaw had certainly displayed enough of the character traits in the time before the two of them became friendlier.