Phoebe thought for a moment, and then shook her head again. ‘Alex pretty much started over after Danny’s death. It broke him, and then he had to put himself back together. He stopped seeing that whole crowd, found a new group, and ultimately met Issa. He’s been a lot healthier and happier since.’ Phoebe gave a small, humourless smile. ‘My parents don’t know that we still see each other. Saw each other. He messaged me sometimes, too.’

‘It’s OK, we’re not about to tell them,’ Lightman said, smiling. ‘Have any of his recent messages contained anything strange?’

‘No,’ Phoebe said, definitely, and then asked, ‘Was it not – random, then? That’s where all this is going, isn’t it? You think someone singled him out. Someone he knew.’

‘I’m afraid we have no theories as yet,’ Lightman said, gently. ‘We need to cover everything.’

Alex’s sister took a long breath in and then breathed it out. ‘OK. I don’t know much. He just sent occasional updates. We last talked on the phone a couple of weeks ago …’ There was a pause, as Alex’s sister once again tried to swallow down rising tears. ‘He seemed – fine. Normal. Whatever happened wasn’t – I don’t think he was in any weird trouble.’

‘And he didn’t mention meeting up with anyone new?’ Hanson asked, thinking of Louise Reakes. That she had been at the nightclub, and might be hiding the fact that she knew Alex. ‘A female friend?’

Phoebe focused on her. ‘He’s never really had female friends.’ She shrugged. ‘I know it flies in the face of the stereotype, but he’s always been more comfortable around other men. I’m the one exception, really.’ Her eyes narrowed slightly. ‘When you say “friend”, are you …? You think he was seeing someone? A woman?’

‘We really don’t know,’ Hanson admitted. ‘We’re just trying to work out who the people at the club with him were, and if there were any connections.’

‘Well, I don’t think he was having an affair, if that’s what you mean,’ Phoebe said. ‘He loves Issa.’

‘Are you close to Issa, too?’ Ben asked.

There was a brief pause, and Phoebe said, ‘We’re all right. We used to be closer, but then we argued. Issa wanted Alex to do less social media stuff and I told him to stop interfering.’

Hanson sat forwards slightly. Issa had completely failed to mention Alex’s sister. Could this be the reason? ‘He doesn’t like him doing it?’ she asked.