‘I know you stood up for your mum,’ Robin says. ‘I know you got your father convicted for what he’d done.’ He takes the second photo from the file – this time of the older man. His eyes are blackened, and Robin knows that his jaw is broken, his ribs shattered. Kal glances down at the photo then glares again. ‘That takes bravery, Kal.’

Kal shakes his head. ‘Not soon enough.’

‘Is that why you killed Jonathan Miller?’

Kal stares back at the table. Robin can see his hands are shaking as he picks up the plastic cup of water and takes a sip.

He carries on. ‘You thought Jonathan was beating Amy up, and you had to do something about it.’

‘Cowards,’ Kal says quietly. ‘That’s all they are.’ He looks up at Robin. ‘Bullies.’

‘And you had to stop Jonathan?’

Kal shakes his head again. ‘I didn’t kill Jonathan,’ he whispers.

‘Tell us what happened, Kal,’ Robin says. ‘We understand. You couldn’t stand by again. You couldn’t let someone beat up their wife and do nothing. You should be commended, Kal,’ Robin says, and he feels Freya tense next to him. ‘Any jury in the land will go easy on you, after what you’ve been through with your mum. Just tell us what happened.’

Kal looks up. He meets Robin’s gaze.

‘I didn’t kill him,’ he says again.

Robin sees Freya look at him and nod. He knows what she’s saying: put everything on the table, show him what we have. But Robin’s reluctant. They know there’s domestic violence in Khalid Riaz’s background, but everything here is backwards. Amy wasn’t being beaten up, Jonathan was. And he’s the one that’s dead.

But they have one chance to find out what happened. Robin opens the file.

‘Kal. Here’s what we know. A man of your height was seen getting out of Jonathan’s car on the night of his murder. You’re what, six foot three? We know the seat of Jonathan’s car was pulled right back, to a position that someone of your height would need to drive it. We’re still waiting for your DNA results, but we’ve already used your father’s DNA from the file, and it comes back as a familial match to the sample we found on the steering wheel of the car.’ He pauses, then takes a photo out. He notices Kal’s gaze flick to the picture.

‘Do you recognise this magazine, Kal?’ Robin asks. ‘Porn, found in the room along with Jonathan’s body. And it has your fingerprints all over it.’

‘I gave it to him,’ he says, but his protest is weak.