‘My mother, Georgia, died unexpectedly while I was travelling. I came back to arrange the funeral. I was her only child. I never knew my dad. Mum said he wanted nothing to do with us. She never even told me his name.’ Steven paused, looking lost for a moment, before regaining his composure. ‘Mum left me her house off Chesterton Road, near the river. It’s fine for now but I think I’ll sell up and use the money to travel again. I’ve got the bug a bit.’

‘Sounds nice.’ Palmer imagined himself living such a carefree life and realised it would never have suited him. He loved the job and wouldn’t swap his family life for the world.

‘After Christmas has been and gone I won’t have anything to keep me here,’ Steven continued. ‘Without Mum, and what with the shop being closed for now, I think I’ll put the house on the market in January and get the hell out of this ice bucket.’ He winked and Palmer found himself warming to the man. ‘Give me the sunshine any day. Bondi Beach is my idea of heaven. Spent a good few weeks there back in 2017. I might open up my own bar. Always thought that would be a nice life.’

As Palmer listened to Steven, he came to the conclusion that the man was a daydreamer.

‘Right, well, thanks for coming in and speaking to me.’ Palmer cut in wanting to get back to doing something that might help with the case. ‘Just one final question. Do you know a Mrs Wendy Matlock?’

Steven wrinkled his brow searching his memory. ‘Nope. Doesn’t mean a thing to me. Why?’ he asked looking suspicious.

‘Just another line of enquiry we are pursuing.’ The lie rolled off Palmer’s tongue with ease.

‘Is she a suspect?’ Steven half whispered leaning across the table, encouraging Palmer to share information with him.

‘I’m afraid I can’t comment on that at this time.’ After saying it he wondered how many times in his career he had used that exact phrase.

‘Fair enough. Got to play your cards close to your chest, Detective. My mum taught me that.’ Again, he winked.

‘If anything occurs to you that you think might be relevant to the case, do call,’ Palmer said handing over his card and shaking hands with Steven. ‘Sergeant Singh will show you the way out. Thanks again.’

Returning to the incident room, Palmer was about to go and file some paperwork regarding a crash that had taken place the previous week on the M11 when he was waved over by Barrett. He was leaning over Elly Hale’s desk looking at something she wanted her boss to see.