‘I opened them up and put real ones inside.’ She laughed with total glee. ‘It cost me a fortune, but I knew it would work. He’s such a smug, egotistical arsehole that he was congratulating himself on knowing they were fake. The best bit is, they’re the same ones he put up when we lived together in Birmingham. He knew for sure that they were fake because he recognised them and was too arrogant to realise that I knew exactly what I was doing.’

She held her phone out to him, which featured a close-up image of Damian’s face. He’d actually turned to look, in satisfaction, at what he believed was the fake camera over the doorstep.

‘The upstairs one got his car, too, and his approach to the house. Add that in to the lesser crime of smashing my security light, and we’ve got a pattern of violent and destructive behaviour.’

‘God,’ Lightman said, taking it with one of the largest and most open smiles she’d seen him give. ‘That’s absolute genius.’

She’d filed her report with the crime desk three and a half hours later. And although she hadn’t felt quite as upbeat since – had, in fact, had moments of squeezing anxiety at what Damian might do when he found out about the charges – she’d generally felt as though she’d been cut free from a heavy weight.

‘Well,’ the DCI said to her now, with an expression that was somewhere between wary and warm, ‘I may not be able to get involved, but that doesn’t mean I can’t offer support. Just tell me if you need time, or space, or a rant, or – I don’t know, alcohol – to get you through it.’

Hanson gave him a grin. ‘Thanks, chief. I will. And, um …’ She shifted a little before going on, ‘thank you for the, er, help with the emails he sent. Ben told me about it. It means a lot. Knowing you have that kind of faith in me.’

‘Well, you know,’ Sheens said, with a shrug, ‘I sort of had to. Otherwise it’d make me look like I made a bad hiring decision, so …’

She gave an out-and-out laugh at that. ‘Yeah, true. Well, thanks anyway.’

Jonah was enjoying the pub more than he’d expected to. He generally had trouble relaxing in these situations. He was too conscious of being the boss. And despite liking his team a great deal, he half expected them to exchange a look about something he’d said, or to quietly hint that he should go.