He sat up straight. ‘Alice Philips and her boyfriend, Larry Gould. I interviewed Alice the morning after Frankie disappeared and we knew she was lying about something, including the question of whether Larry was there that night. We had a witness who said they saw a young man who matched his description near the house. Carmella and I went to interview Larry but he stonewalled us. I made the decision that it wasn’t worth pursuing that lead, that the two of them probably just didn’t want Alice’s parents to know that he was round the house, but nothing more.’

‘And what makes you think that isn’t actually the case?’ Suzanne asked.

‘He’s probably got a hunch,’ Winkler said.

Patrick ignored him. ‘Nothing. I mean, I don’t have any new evidence. But I made a mistake by not pursuing every lead. I was blinkered. A good detective always keeps every option open, explores every avenue. I wasn’t a good detective.’

‘Come on, sir, you’re being too hard on yourself,’ Carmella said. ‘It must be that crack on the head you took yesterday. We followed the path that seemed most likely. Anybody would have done the same. I completely agreed with you.’

Patrick was glad, now more than ever, that he didn’t have someone like Winkler as his partner. It would be easy for Carmella to stab him in the back, try to advance her career by claiming that she had pressed him to pursue the Larry lead. Because it was true, she had wanted to talk to him more. She was loyal, though. No matter how regretful he felt at this moment, he was grateful to her.

Suzanne sighed. ‘Alright, I’m not interested in self-torture and if onlys. All I care about is finding where Frankie Philips is. As far as I’m concerned this is a new investigation. Patrick, do you want to lead it?’

He might have said no, let someone else take it on, if he hadn’t seen Winkler almost bounce out of his chair. Did he really want someone like Winkler leading this case? Winkler didn’t really care about the victims of crime. He saw every investigation as a chance to accumulate points. This wasn’t mere speculation: Winkler had once told Patrick that himself, back in the days when they had got along reasonably well.

Plus, Patrick wanted the chance to make amends. He knew that he was still the best chance the Philips family had.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I do.’

‘Good,’ Suzanne said.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ Winkler hissed.

Suzanne gave him a look that would freeze oil. When she turned back to Patrick, her face was warmer, but businesslike. ‘Patrick, tell us everything we know so far.’