“So he knew I was with the police? That I was in CID?”

Sally-Ann looks away, and he has his answer.

“I didn’t think it at the time, but looking back I think he might have been angling for me to set him up with someone. Not you specifically but . . . he was really interested in my job. I told him what I did, working in the comms room, and he asked loads of questions about CID.”

“He asked you about CID specifically?”

Sally-Ann thinks about it. “Well, no, not exactly, but he kept coming back to the same thing, did I know anyone involved in the juicy stuff, drugs, murder? It was just one of those conversations you have in the pub, you know?”

He thinks he’s beginning to.

“But I’ve been thinking about the night I first met him. It was when I told him I worked for the police that he started to get more interested. I remember because it’s weird; most people run a mile when you tell them you work for the cops, but if anything I got the impression he was flirting with me. He asked me out, and when we went on our ‘date,’ and I made it clear I wasn’t interested in him, that’s when he suddenly came out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this . . . ?” He stops. He’s been a fool. “Last night, you set that up, too. That’s why you were so adamant I go.”

“I didn’t know, Adam. I swear I didn’t. He said he liked you but that you were . . . difficult. I said I told him that at the start.” Sally-Ann looks up at him. “Sorry. Anyway, he said he needed to see you again on neutral territory, like the night you met, that it was better that way.”

“And you never thought anything was wrong with that? In light of what we found in his house?”

“No, I mean, I don’t know, maybe. It’s just . . . he has this way about him. You sort of feel you can trust him. He’s always been like that, actually, overly charming. But when I saw you together in the club last night, and I saw him put that pill in your glass—”

“What?”

“I think he slipped you something. I asked him about it and he said you’d asked him for it. It was just an E, something to take the edge off, make you relax.”

“You went along with this?”

“Of course not! I tried asking you about it, but you were already wasted. You told me to piss off and stop bothering you. You said some pretty hurtful things actually.”

Tyler can’t remember any of that. “He spiked me?”

“Oh, God, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have left you, but I was upset and—wait, Adam, where are you going? Please! Don’t leave it like this . . .”

day six