‘He … no,’ Phoebe said. ‘Well … he was fairly competitive. He wanted to be good, and he was very driven to improve himself.’ Her mouth twisted slightly. ‘When Alex was very young, he was a bit of a mummy’s boy. At least that’s what Daddy used to think. Sport became Alex’s way of proving himself to him. So he’s always been quite … fierce about it.’

‘Did they end up bonding, then?’ Lightman asked. ‘Your father and Alex?’

Phoebe shrugged. ‘I suppose so. They were quite close for a few years. But Daddy’s struggled with … a few things.’ She shrugged. ‘I wish he could get over it all, but I don’t think he’s programmed that way.’

‘With Alex’s sexuality?’ Lightman queried gently.

‘Yes, and … some of the boys he’s fallen for.’

‘Like his husband, you mean?’ Hanson asked.

Phoebe grimaced, and looked down at her sleeves. ‘I think he was the last straw, really. A very unmanly Muslim. The last in a long line of people Daddy felt to be inappropriate … He kept asking him why he hadn’t settled for any of the women he’d dated. Why he couldn’t try harder to make things work with someone female.’

‘So Alex had dated women, too?’

‘Not for any length of time,’ Phoebe replied. ‘The only people he’d ever loved were men.’

‘How did you feel about Issa?’

Phoebe looked slightly surprised. ‘Totally different. I was relieved. Issa isn’t drugged up or violent or anything.’

Lightman glanced over at Hanson, clearly as interested in this as she was. ‘Alex had violent ex-boyfriends?’

‘Not violent like hurting anyone,’ Phoebe said, quickly. ‘Not murderous. And only the one, really. Most of them were just no-hopers. But at school he fell for a troublemaker called Danny, who was – who was sweet, really, but riddled with issues. He would do destructive things because he was unhappy. He took a lot of drugs, and he sort of took Alex with him. They got into constant trouble, and Alex and Daddy really fell out.’

It was surprising, Hanson thought, that Phoebe was willing to talk so openly about all of this. Particularly with such an emotionally closed-off father.

‘Has Alex been in contact with this Danny recently?’ she asked.

‘Oh no, Danny’s – Danny died.’ She looked at Hanson with an expression that seemed genuinely regretful. ‘He overdosed while they were at uni. It was pretty shit for Alex. Maybe it was good for him, in the long run, but it was horrendous too.’ She shook her head. ‘Poor Danny.’

Hanson nodded, feeling a dip in her spirits at the closing off of this obvious line of enquiry. ‘Did Alex and Danny have any mutual friends who might be on the scene?’