The custody officer left wordlessly as Charlie settled on a spongy office chair, cuffs scraping the desktop. The only light was a triangle from a side door, where she could hear piss spraying into a toilet bowl. Charlie heard the faucet run, hands getting dried, then a gong crash from the lid of a pedal bin.

‘Charlie Croker,’ a stooped figure said as he came out, silhouetted by the washroom light.

He was bulky, with a man bun, biker jacket and stubble. Blue cop car light flashed the dark office walls as he settled across the desk.

‘How’s your day been?’

‘Had better,’ Charlie said as she tried to place the voice. ‘Are you JJ’s lawyer, Edelmann?’

‘Well recognised,’ he said, casually drumming a fountain pen he’d taken off the desk. ‘Not my actual name.’

‘Man of mystery,’ Charlie said, stifling a yawn as one of her disposable slippers dropped off. ‘I’m guessing you’re not a lawyer either.’

‘That would be a smart guess,’ he said, jamming the pen in his ear then studying the blob of wax stuck to the end. ‘I describe myself as a person that can fix things in this town. For instance, I can arrive at a police station at three in the morning and get a suspect taken from her cell for a private chat. And when you look at the custody log in the morning it won’t be written down. And if you ask around nobody’s gonna remember a damned thing.’

‘Is that the same guy who hacked my laptop and put Deion’s shirts under my bed?’ Charlie asked.

‘And slipped your brother the laxative, so you couldn’t leave the trailer,’ he said, clicking his fingers. ‘Don’t get your hopes up about data recovery on the Rock Spring High CCTV, either.’

Feeling vulnerable in the paper suit with nothing underneath, Charlie pulled one knee up to her chest and wrapped her cuffed hands round it.

‘Are you working for my sister?’ she asked warily.

‘If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t be gifting Fawn this Christmas,’ he smiled. ‘But my services come above her price bracket.’

‘Jay Janssen Senior?’

‘Do you think?’ the mystery man said, but nodded as well.

‘So two people half burnt to death and my life gets wrecked, all so some rich guy gets to see his son play starting quarterback?’

He stroked his man bun and smiled. ‘Crazy messed-up world we live in.’

‘But you’re here at three a.m.,’ Charlie said thoughtfully. ‘Haven’t you got me already?’

‘Got you for sure, Charlie girl,’ he said. ‘But I sleep better when all the loose ends are tidied away. And Fawn said she wanted your wings clipped, rather than lock you up and toss the key.’

‘Isn’t that nice …’ Charlie said.