‘Now hold on. The Berry case bears no resemblance to the Hawksmith case. The evil Overlord is going to be having none of that. I’m not going upstairs bearing that bouquet of poisoned ivy, thank you very much,’ Lively grumbled.

‘You don’t need to link the two cases unless she asks. I’m about to phone the pathologist and have that discussion with her, and I’m sure she’ll agree that we need to consider the similarities between the two cases.’

‘Similarities? One man, one woman, different ages. The first was a fall and the second was deliberate cutting in a warm bath.’

‘You’re starting to sound like her,’ Ava quipped.

‘With respect, ma’am, you can do one.’

‘I’m giving you a pass for that, Sergeant, but it’s the last one you’ll get. I’ve got two bodies that seem superficially like suicides, but neither is quite that simple.’

‘Two’s a coincidence, three’s a pattern. The superintendent won’t like it,’ Lively said. ‘And with respect, it’s not fair of you to use me like this.’

‘Is that your social conscience speaking out, only you’ve given your colleagues more crap over the years than any other officer I’ve known. It didn’t bother you before.’

‘I never used an officer who was in a relationship to try to gain an advantage,’ Lively said quietly. ‘You wouldn’t be asking if I were female.’

Ava stood up, hands on hips. ‘Are you accusing me of sexism?’

Lively took a deep breath. ‘Aye, I suppose I am. If your new constable, Janet Monroe, were seeing a man higher up the chain of command than you, you’d sooner poke out your own eyes than abuse her position with him to get what you wanted.’

‘Shit,’ Ava muttered. ‘I didn’t think of it like that. I’m sorry. Truly. Forget it, I’ll see Overbeck myself. For what it’s worth, you’re right. I wouldn’t have done that to a woman. It just didn’t occur to me …’ She wasn’t sure how to end the sentence.

‘That I might have feelings? Thanks for that, ma’am. I’ll be in the incident room if you need me for anything that actually constitutes my duties.’

He left without actually slamming the door, but Ava felt the impact as if he had.