Everyone in the team knew how much Dan struggled with being apart from his family. ‘Oh, Dan. I’m so sorry. I know how much you miss them.’ Presumably it would mean the girls going with her, but I didn’t like to ask.

‘It’s just . . . oh, never mind.’

‘A year will pass in no time.’ I wasn’t sure if this was helpful or not but was grappling for what to say.

‘Maybe. Maybe not. The girls would love the outback, and short-term it would be a fabulous experience for them. It wasn’t what I signed up for though. I agreed to the fast-track post here on the understanding that Aroona and the girls would follow me over, not move even further away.’ He scrunched his sandwich box into a ball and lobbed it into the bin. ‘I know Aroona. This means she’s changed her mind.’

‘Why don’t you knock off? Grab a pint somewhere.’

He brushed crumbs off his desk and shook his head. ‘Nah. I really don’t fancy being on my own right now.’ He closed the Skype tab. ‘How’d you go with Indra? Any developments?’

I updated him on what had happened. On the board, the image of the female fire victim taunted me, and I added ‘Essex’ and ‘child’ to what we knew about her.

‘Do you think Marta and Tomasz are an item?’ He began bustling about, as though he was relieved for the distraction.

‘They weren’t employer-employee giggles. Put it that way. When they saw me, they reined it in, but it looked like they’d been drinking together.’

Dan straightened his back and rolled his neck again. ‘While I was waiting for you I had a read of the update log. According to the police database, Marta Ulbiene first came to London six years ago on a deal from Lithuania which was described as “helping girls to study in Britain”, but which turned out to be a trafficking scheme.’ Dan angled his monitor so I could see the record.

‘Christ. Poor Marta.’ I remembered the impression I’d had when I’d talked to her at the hospital, and what Indra had just told me about her not being forgiving.

‘She and six other girls ended up in a prostitution ring run by fellow Lithuanians in Beckton in a council flat.’ Dan was paraphrasing. ‘She was lucky to survive, by the sounds of it. One of the girls died of a heroin overdose and one was beaten to death by the men running the girls. Indra came over to the UK to look for her, reported her missing, and eventually the police busted the ring and Marta was saved. Indra stayed here to look after her sister, who was in a bad way. That was when Indra met Simas, and they got married soon after.’