Jackie must’ve caught his sideways glance. ‘I can see that the scope of this investigation is vast,’ she said, adopting a cautious tone of voice, ‘but I’ve literally just got off the DLR. Maya, I’ll need you to bring me up to speed on budgets, PDQ.’

‘Sure. Let me run through the main lines of enquiry and who’s doing what later.’

Jackie nodded her agreement.

‘Until evidence tells us otherwise, I’m going to suggest that Indra is our prime suspect. Anyone disagree?’

The room was quiet.

‘Right. Shen, can you assess the H-2-H reports? Check alibis and if anyone was seen entering the shop. We need background information on Simas and Indra. Bank and phone records. And insurance details for the shop.’

Shen leaped into an empty seat.

‘Alexej, the CCTV. There wasn’t any smoke when the arsonist entered the shop. It’s a small window of time but let’s find it. And keep checking for anything that’ll help ID our UnSub.’

‘Sure.’ He wheeled round on his chair.

‘Dan, can you chase the fire investigation engineer on when we can get the bodies out?’

‘Gotcha.’

‘I’ll ask Indra for a list of people who had beef with them or their business.’ We had more questions than answers, but at least we had a plan of action. ‘Let’s get some sleep and I’ll see you all bright and early tomorrow.’ I turned to Jackie. ‘Shall we nip up to the Morgan Arms? We can grab a bite to eat and I’ll bring you up to speed.’

‘You read my mind.’ Her tone shifted and she smiled warmly. ‘Tell me to mind my own business,’ she lowered her voice, ‘but I’m pleased Dougie is still around. I hope you two are still . . . ?’

I chuckled. It was so ‘Jackie’ to make a comment like this, moments after joining the team. ‘We are.’

She began gathering up her bag and jacket, then stood still for a moment. ‘I was sorry to hear about your brother last year.’

‘Thank you. At the time, his suicide was a terrible shock for all of us. Particularly Mum.’ I felt my eyes filling up and my throat tighten. This wasn’t like me. Was it Jackie’s kindness?

‘Maya, I know how much you cared about him and—’

‘. . . It’s Mum I worry about. She’s never recovered from Dad leaving. It’s like a huge black cloud rolled in front of her and she can’t seem to emerge from behind it.’ Mentioning Dad reminded me that I still hadn’t opened the forensic results. ‘When Sabbir moved back to Bangladesh, she took it personally, as though it was another betrayal and he was leaving her rather than a life that wasn’t the right shape for him.’

Jackie was nodding gently, and I appreciated her not churning out comments about ‘sympathising’ and ‘time healing’.