They held the interviews first thing Monday morning in the MDR, calling us in from the dining room one at a time. I think it was probably alphabetical, but I couldn’t swear to it, because I don’t know everyone’s surname. Ilias was in first, I remember that, then a couple of the Informals and then Jamilah. The rest of us sat there, twiddling our thumbs in the dining room, waiting our turn.

I had my headphones on, listening to nothing.

I can’t lie, I was like a cat on hot bricks.

There was a copper in there with us – a woman who smiled a bit too much – and she’d made it clear that they didn’t want us talking to each other about what had happened two nights earlier, and definitely not talking to anybody who’d already been questioned before we went in. Didn’t stop some people talking about other things, obviously. Didn’t stop Ilias asking the copper if she wanted to play chess or Jamilah offering to sort her feet out.

It was properly frustrating, though.

I just had to hold it in, tell myself that I’d have plenty of time to find out what the others had said later on.

I understood why, course I did. You don’t want information to be tainted or untrustworthy so it can be easily discounted down the line. You’d be amazed how careful you need to be about that . . . about everything. We once had a six-month murder inquiry fall apart at the last minute because nobody had thought to offer a suspect – who had been brought in the night before his interview – something to eat. Can you believe that? His solicitor argued that his client had not been in a fit state to be questioned, so the entire statement got thrown out and the case fell apart. That’s the way it is, these days.

It got me wondering, sitting there waiting to be called down to the MDR, just how reliable any of our statements might prove to be. I wasn’t including myself, obviously, but surely these coppers knew the kind of people they were talking to. Easy enough for a brief with five minutes on the job to pick holes in anything L-Plate had to say, or The Thing. Not very hard to convince a jury these were not what you’d call solid witnesses.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have been told that Witness A can clearly identify the accused, but you should also know that she believes the moon to be a hologram . . .

I know, I was probably getting ahead of myself just a little back then, but in the early days of an investigation it always pays to think about what might be down the road, because nothing is ever that easy. You need to prepare for all eventualities.