Anxiety, panic attacks: Jo could see exactly where this was going, she just wasn’t certain if Vale was deliberately guiding her there or not. The caller claimed that, according to Martina, Vale had left his former girlfriend at the top of the mountain and stalked her from the dark on the way down. Now it seemed obvious what Vale’s version of that night would be if Jo actually asked him: they’d hiked to the peak, they’d watched the sunset, then, for whatever reason, Martina had freaked out. She’d had one of her episodes. She’d become irrational, mixed up, had spun out of control. What she thought she remembered was all wrong.

Jo made a note to chase down a medical history for Martina Lopez, to check for a detailed history of benzodiazepine use, including during the period she dated Adrian Vale, because that would be the easiest way to prove or dismiss Vale’s claims. But, even without that information, she could feel things starting to shift: in Martina’s autopsy report, the coroner had noted that there were faint traces of Valium in her blood. Jo hadn’t placed much importance on that detail when she’d read it the first time – half the city was using tranquillizers – but now it seemed like a major bridge back to this moment. And, again, it framed Adrian Vale in a different light.

‘Why did the two of you split up?’ Jo asked him.

‘I just found it hard to deal with her.’

‘Her illness, you mean?’

‘Yeah, exactly.’ He pushed his lips together, a look of regret and of guilt. ‘I know that sounds terrible. But she would just lose her mind for no reason, and it got more and more difficult to calm her down.’ He stopped again, taking a breath, wiping at an eye. He wasn’t in tears, but he was emotional – or appeared to be. ‘Her parents weren’t around, and she just wouldn’t listen to me. I kept telling her she needed to go seek help: not pills – not more medication – but real help. A psychologist, or someone who could actually get inside her head. But I was seventeen, man. I didn’t know anything about the world, so I was telling her to do this stuff, but didn’t really have a clue what I was talking about. All I knew was that I wanted her to get better.’

‘Did you split up after what happened at Big Bear Lake?’

Jo watched for a reaction.

‘I’m sorry?’

‘Did you split up after Big Bear?’ she repeated.