‘I think see him,’ he said in the end. ‘Show him photos of the Reakeses and see what he says. O’Malley, let’s go and talk to Niall Reakes. Juliette, see if you can book us in to see Dina Weyman later this evening.’ He gave her an apologetic smile. ‘Happy crap weekend.’

‘Ah, I have nothing to do except watch shit TV,’ Hanson said, with strange cheerfulness. ‘It’s all good with me!’

Hanson was glad that their investigation seemed to be going somewhere, and not just for its own sake. It meant she could get her head down and work, and not think about Jason and how awkward it was going to be seeing him every day from now on. This, she thought, was why you should never date someone at work.

And also, she added to herself, why you should get yourself an actual social life.

She woke her desktop up, and her eyes drifted over to where Jason sat on a normal working day. She thought of Louise and her husband, who had been so quick to condemn her. And she thought how, in a way, Jason had done exactly the same.

She suddenly found herself coming to a decision. Pulling out her phone, she typed him a brief message.

Thank you for that essay. I have nothing to say in reply except that I want your things gone from my house before I get home later.

And with that done, she was ready to work.

Jonah hid himself away to prep for the interview with Niall Reakes. He knew he needed to be on form. Niall had ended up being represented by Daniella Hart, who was with the same firm as Patrick Moorcroft. Like him, she was expensive, and Jonah’s one encounter with her had been exhausting.

He’d dropped in on the solicitor and her client to give them warning and found the atmosphere a little tense. It was clear that having someone who wasn’t Patrick was galling for Niall. It was equally clear that Daniella Hart didn’t like being second choice. He couldn’t help smiling as he left them again.

Midway through getting his notes together, Jonah’s landline rang. McCullough, with the blood results.

‘Her blood tests are negative for Rohypnol,’ McCullough said, her voice slightly raised to speak over music she had on in the background. ‘There was still alcohol present, indicating that she’d drunk more than twenty-four units that night. Enough to explain serious memory loss. But perhaps more interestingly, she’s showing traces of Viagra.’

‘That’s … slightly odd …’

‘They do say it’s the modern man’s drug of choice,’ Linda commented, drily. ‘There are lots of rumours online that it can be used to make women aroused. If true, that would be a score for any potential rapist. It’s pretty easy to defend rape if the victim was clearly horny as hell in the earlier part of the evening.’