‘The file will be passed to the coroner today,’ DC Stone continues, nodding. ‘Uniforms spoke to the neighbours; there’s no sign the shop unit was being used as anything more dodgy than a squat, which means it’s a civil matter. And the post-mortem didn’t show anything suspicious, so there’s nothing else for us to do our end.’

‘That’s good,’ Beth says again. She wonders if the repetition makes her sound false. ‘Poor man,’ she adds. But she realises that she means it too. She’s never personally been tempted by drugs, but they were always around when she was growing up, and she knew plenty of people who were. Some of them seemed able to control it, but it had devastating consequences for others. Not that she’d reveal any of that to DC Stone of course.

The detective shuffles on the stool he’s perched on. ‘I also wanted to let you know that we released the other squatter.’

Beth’s stomach lurches so she crosses her arms to force it down. ‘Oh?’

‘To be honest, I think he was telling the truth about the heroin not being his; no sign of anything worse than a hangover when he woke up in the nick on Friday morning. He was clearly aware of his mate’s gear being in the squat though – it appears they were quite close despite the thirty-five-year age gap – so we let him go with a caution for possession. He’s only 18 and has no previous, so hopefully he’ll use this as a warning to turn his life around.’

‘And the shop?’ Beth whispers. She sees the teenager’s face again, how it seethed with anger that night. And also during those few weeks before, the times she’s walked past their makeshift home, catching eyes with him. ‘He won’t be allowed to go back there?’

‘SOCO’s finished their work, but we’ve left a message for the owners and the property’s been made secure. And my colleague made it very clear to Mark, that’s the other squatter, that he’s not welcome there. Listen, I know he was an idiot on Thursday night, but I don’t think you have anything to worry about. He won’t be back.’

Beth lets out a long sigh of relief and it feels like she’s been holding her breath since Thursday night. DC Stone sounds so confident, and she lets his words settle on her like a comfort blanket.

But now she wants him gone.

The detective has delivered good news and drawn a line under the incident, so he has no reason to be here anymore. ‘Thank you for coming to see me,’ she says. ‘And for the update.’