“I know.” He looks out at the grassy bank where the students lie cradling their pints. Another perfect couple is lying together on the grass, hands and mouths all over each other. “You have a girlfriend.” He doesn’t mean for it to come out like that, like an accusation.

Oscar doesn’t answer straightaway. “Soph?” he says finally. “Well, it’s not really like that.”

Tyler glances back to the table. Sophie Denham is finding it hard to look anything other than imperious, while Rabbani makes no attempt to hide her disdain. If he doesn’t get back soon someone’s going to say something they’ll regret. A man in a tailored gray suit is approaching the table.

Oscar’s voice whispers at him from the phone. “I need to see you. I can explain. Can we meet?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Please, Adam. It’s important.”

He remembers he has something important he needs to tell Oscar as well, the fact they’ve identified the body as belonging to his father. He still has a job to do. The man in the gray suit is arguing with Rabbani. She’s holding her own but because he’s standing over her the man has the advantage. His body language is intimidating and aggressive. He wills Rabbani to stand up. “Fine. The Red Deer. Six.” Neutral territory. He hangs up before Oscar can say anything else.

Rabbani is up now, and Sophie Denham seems both pleased at her discomfort and mortified at the scene they’re creating in the coffee shop. As he arrives back at the table, he catches the tail end of Rabbani’s attempt to calm the situation down—“. . . only a few questions.”

“All future questions can come through me,” says the man in the suit.

“I’m DS Tyler.” He inserts his warrant card into the conversation by way of an opening salvo. “You are?”

The man squares his chest, but the effect is that of a puffer fish, or an elephant raising its ears and making a mock charge. It’s all show. He’s significantly shorter than Tyler and is forced to look up at him, squinting through thick-glassed spectacles. “I’m Michael Denham,” he says. “I’m Sophie’s father and her legal representative.”

“It’s all right, Dad, they’re just asking about Gerald.”

“It’s not all right,” he snaps back. “And frankly you should know better.” He turns back to Tyler. “If you wish to speak to Sophie, you can do so in my presence. Do I make myself clear?”

Tyler holds eye contact with the man and counts to five, drawing out the tension. When he speaks it’s calmly and quietly. “You’ve made yourself very clear, Mr. Denham. I’ve no objection to you joining us. In fact, I have some questions I’d like to ask you as well.”