‘Oh, because Issa would have lost his shit,’ Marc said, with a laugh. ‘He’s an absolute pacifist. I mean, Alex is, too, but … you know. He wanted to get Step something he would love.’

‘Is … Step into weapons?’ Hanson asked.

‘Well, he likes anything with workmanship, but he’s got a particular thing for hunting knives and ceremonial swords, that kind of thing. Has a huge display in his house.’ There was a brief pause, and then Marc said, ‘Was there a particular reason …?’

‘We were just wondering what was in it,’ she said, as calmly as she could. ‘Did Step like it?’

‘Yes,’ Marc said, more slowly. ‘He loved it.’

‘Perhaps you could describe the knife, just so …?’

‘Well, it had a long, tapered blade,’ Marc said. ‘And lots of … of black scrollwork round the handle.’

‘That’s great,’ Hanson said, with a breezy, final note. ‘Thanks so much for all your help. We’ll probably need to talk to you again later, but that’s all for now.’

‘OK,’ Marc said. ‘Thanks.’

There was something in his voice that told her he’d started wondering about that knife. She lost no time in heading to the DCI’s office.

‘A knife that matches our murder weapon was delivered to the workplace of Marc Ruskin,’ she told him, before he’d had a chance to say anything, ‘who turns out to be Step Conti’s cousin. Alex ordered it himself, as a gift for Step Conti. He gave it to him for his birthday.’ There was a brief pause while the chief looked at her, and she added, ‘Marc described it perfectly to me, and I think he’d started to cotton on to why I was asking. He might warn Step about it.’

Sheens’s expression was unreadable at first, and then he said, ‘Right. We’d better get over there.’

Step Conti’s house looked just as picture-perfect on a gloomy day as it had in clear sunlight. Though there was a keen, cold wind blasting across from the heath that hit Jonah and Hanson hard. It had snowed again out here, too, a hardened layer that had immediately frozen on top.

Jonah couldn’t help laughing slightly as he and Hanson both slipped and nearly fell at almost the same time, and then moved flat-footed across the icy driveway towards the front door. They both looked, he suspected, a little ridiculous, and not much like the stern forces of justice they represented.

He waited for the two uniforms from the squad car to catch up with them before he rang the bell. One of the officers was already heading to the side of the property to make sure Step didn’t do a runner out of the back.

Step Conti’s expression was contained as he answered the door. It was hard to tell whether he felt under pressure as Jonah greeted him.