‘Of course not,’ Hanson replied, deadpan. ‘Wouldn’t ever.’

‘So with that, I think it’s time to call it a night,’ the DCI told them. ‘I’ll see you all in the morning.’

Hanson ended up walking down to the car park with Lightman, who asked, once they were on the stairs, how she was doing.

‘I’m OK,’ she told him, with a shrug. ‘Feeling a little flat at the outcome of all that, but not as anxious about Damian and all his bollocks. Having talked it all through has helped a lot. So thank you.’

Lightman nodded. ‘We should have a plotting session,’ he said. ‘Tomorrow or Wednesday. A plan of action for dealing with the ex.’

‘That sounds good,’ she said, holding the door for him as they walked outside. ‘Thank you.’

They stepped outside, and then Lightman paused on the pavement. ‘He, um … he was here when we got back from the service station. Damian. He was hanging around out here, presumably in an effort to scare you.’

‘Shit,’ Hanson said. She shuddered, an involuntary reaction she wasn’t proud of. And then she asked, ‘Are you sure it was him?’

‘Yeah, I looked him up yesterday,’ Lightman said, with a trace of a smile. ‘I dug up all the dirt on him.’

Hanson gave a shocked laugh. ‘You didn’t use the police database for this, did you?’

‘I haven’t so far,’ Lightman said. ‘But I’m bearing it in mind if I feel he merits further investigation.’

Hanson glanced around and tried to ignore a crawling sensation up and down her spine. ‘I hope he’s got bored and buggered off.’

‘Well, he didn’t hang around,’ Lightman said, carefully not looking at her, ‘after I had a quick word.’

‘What?’ Hanson realised it had come out a little sharply and pulled a face. ‘Sorry, but … What did you say?’

‘I addressed him as Damian, and he reacted, so I asked if he would like to come inside and talk to us or vacate the premises. He chose to leave.’ He shrugged. ‘The DCI was about five feet away, watching, so I think he felt a little outgunned.’

‘Right,’ Hanson said. ‘Right.’ She wasn’t sure if she thought this was high-handed or actually the best thing anyone had ever done for her.

Lightman looked at her, his eyes clearly trying to read her expression. ‘Was that all right? I really don’t want to interfere. I just … well, I hoped it would help. Make him realise you aren’t on your own.’

Hanson thought about what Damian had probably wanted to say to her. She had no doubt that he’d wanted to see her reaction to his shit. To everything he’d told Jason. He would have wanted to crow over it. She could imagine his smug, awful smile without needing to see it.