She loaded up the spreadsheet of knife orders again and spent a good half-hour trying to link either Niall Reakes or Dina Weyman to the address in Winchester where the knife had been sent. And then, in the end, as she finished up one of the DCI’s newly bought chocolate twists and threw the bag in the bin, she realised that the obvious route would be to call the firm and ask to talk to this Marc Ruskin who had apparently taken the delivery.

It didn’t take long to raise him.

‘This is Marc Ruskin.’ His voice was brittle, his cheerful, northern-accented speech not quite steady. ‘Is this … about Alex?’

Hanson had a momentary floating sensation. ‘Sorry, you mean …?’

‘My – friend? Who was murdered?’

Hanson tried to make sense of this. ‘Yes, I … Could you tell me how you knew him?’

‘Through my cousin,’ Marc said. ‘Through Step. We were a group. Me, Step, Alex. Occasionally my brother, when he wasn’t working.’

‘You used to go out together?’

‘Yeah, we did.’ He gave a slightly emotional-sounding laugh. ‘I know we seem like a weird bunch. From finance people to personal trainers and everything in between. But we were pretty close.’

Hanson made an effort to get mentally back on her feet. To take control of this interview. ‘When did you meet Alex?’

‘A little while after he met Issa,’ Marc said.

‘Were Alex and Step particularly close?’ she asked next, April’s comments about him very much in mind.

‘Yes, I’d say so,’ Marc agreed. ‘The two of them meet up a lot more often.’

‘There’s never been any … jealousy issue, has there?’ she tried. ‘Between Step and Issa?’

There was a brief silence from Marc, and then he said, ‘I don’t know. I think Issa can be a little bit resentful of Step sometimes.’

‘And the other way?’ Hanson went on. ‘Does Step resent Issa?’

‘Oh, I don’t think so,’ Marc said. ‘Not really. Only when he tells Alex not to see him.’

There was a silence as Hanson wondered how to move the conversation round to the knife. She decided there was no gentle way of doing it, so she went on, ‘Can I ask about a package that was sent to you, a while back?’

‘Uhh … a package?’

‘Yes,’ Hanson said. ‘From a company called Steel and Silver. This was in January last year.’

There was a brief pause, and then Marc said, ‘Oh, you mean that Alex sent over? Yes, the knife for Step’s birthday.’

Hanson paused, very much aware of her heart beating in her throat. ‘It was a present for Step Conti?’

‘Yes,’ Marc said. ‘Beautiful thing that Alex had found. It was just Step’s kind of thing.’

‘So …’ she said, as her brain attempted to catch up with this. ‘So why didn’t Alex have it delivered to his house?’