Hanson sighed and briefly replied to say she was aware of that, and then thanked him for his help. She’d been to a talk just before Christmas on how digital footprints were making the detection of criminals easier and easier. She wondered when that might actually start to influence her day-to-day work for the better.

Lightman finished his phone call to the duty sergeant and typed up his findings in the database. After that, he rang the DCI back to confirm that they could rule out any involvement from the aggressive drunk at the nightclub.

‘He was picked up before one and kept in until seven this morning,’ Lightman confirmed.

‘Thanks,’ Sheens said. ‘Are you and Juliette on the road to Phoebe Plaskitt’s?’

He glanced over at Hanson, who gave him a thumbs up.

‘About to leave, I think.’

‘I’d particularly like to know what she thinks of Alex’s husband,’ the DCI told him. ‘Any issues between them. How she thinks they were doing.’

‘Sure,’ Lightman agreed.

He hung up, and decided he could do with a coffee before their journey. He was about to suggest making one when Hanson rose, gave him a vague smile, and headed towards the kitchen. He glanced across at Jason Walker’s empty desk, and nodded to himself. He’d wait a few minutes.

Jason was already waiting in the kitchen with two mugs of fully made tea on the counter. He was leaning against a cupboard, one arm folded over his stomach and his phone out.

It was a note of disappointment that he’d already made the tea. Hanson hadn’t yet had the heart to tell him that she liked it brewed for about twice as long as he ever gave it.

‘How goes?’ she asked, touching his shoulder lightly.

‘Not too bad.’ He smiled and squeezed her hand, putting his phone back into his pocket. The two of them had their office-level displays of affection worked out precisely. It was all about brief, non-intimate touching. ‘I’ve been looking for more of this stolen sound gear on eBay,’ he went on. ‘You’d be amazed how many of the exact model of amp are for sale on there.’

‘I thought you’d already found all of them?’ Hanson asked, picking up the slightly less anaemic of the two mugs of tea.

Jason had spent some weeks digging into a network of housebreakers. It had taken time. The group had been extremely careful, and they had sold their stolen items carefully. They’d listed them individually, through numerous different eBay and Gumtree accounts.

‘I thought so too,’ Jason said. ‘But the audio theft at the uni and all those bikes at the sports centre weren’t sold on any of the accounts we’ve identified.’

‘Oh, that’s a bugger.’