‘Nothing. Nobody’s heard of him. One girl did mention a guy into that sort of thing, likes to be choked while she stands on his testicles.’ Robin flinches. ‘But he was into dog leads and butt plugs. That’s not your guy, is it?’

‘Doesn’t sound like him, no,’ Robin replies. It just reinforces what Steph was saying – that auto-erotic asphyxiation is usually accompanied by other similar tastes. He takes another swig of beer.

‘And you’ve never tried it?’ Liv asks.

Robin inhales a little too sharply and beer goes down the wrong way. Liv laughs as he coughs. ‘I’ll take that as a no,’ she says. ‘Why not?’

‘Why not?’ he repeats, once he’s got his breath back.

‘Yeah.’ She smiles across the sofa. ‘You might like it.’

He shakes his head. ‘I’ll give that one a miss, thanks.’ He goes to drink again, then realises his bottle is empty.

Liv gets up from the sofa. ‘I’ll get you another,’ she says. ‘Can I use your bathroom?’

He watches her go. This is odd, he thinks, her turning up out of the blue. He’d never have said they were friends. Apart from that one night last week, they’ve had no contact. And a prostitute being friends with a cop is certainly not a common occurrence. Confidential informant, maybe, but never friends.

But he’s in no hurry to kick her out. Her company is nice, welcome in the echoing silence of his life.

He hears the fridge open, then the hiss as she takes the top off the bottle. She comes back into the room and sits down, this time slightly closer. She hands him the beer and as she does so he finds himself looking down her top, catching a glimpse of a lacy cream bra.

He forces his eyes away. You’re acting like a little schoolboy, he tells himself.

‘Anyway, you were saying,’ she says.

‘I was?’

‘What are you into?’ Her eyes are dark as she meets his gaze. He looks away again quickly.

‘What am I into?’ he repeats, caught off guard.

‘All men like something,’ she says, quietly. ‘What about you?’

He frowns. He can’t be talking about this. He feels a stirring in his groin and fidgets. Any more conversation and this is going to get very uncomfortable, very fast.

But she shows no signs of dropping the topic. ‘That’s assuming you like women, of course.’

‘Yes, I like women.’ He takes a large mouthful of beer.

‘But what else?’ She leans forward towards him. ‘What’s your fantasy? Threesomes, role play? Maybe you like it rough, handcuffs, a little slap here and there. You are a cop…’

He shakes his head. She’s on all fours now, coming towards him on the sofa.

‘Maybe a little domination,’ she whispers. She takes the beer out of his hand, then pushes it against his mouth. ‘Drink it,’ she says, sternly.