‘Don’t have anybody else. Get a main. Go in hard. What can I do?’ She paused. ‘By the way, hope you don’t mind, I’ve asked your deputy to do us a favour.’

‘Gwyn? Haven’t seen him today yet.’

‘I asked him to start monitoring social media, see if the Patriot League lot are playing us. Like you said.’

He thought about it. About everything.

‘OK. I’ll check in with him. Have you made a statement about Turner?’

‘Jesus Christ, Joe! Aren’t you following this shit? Two down and counting. Not seen the papers today?’

‘Sorry, I’m… I’ve just been on something.’

‘Whatever. Let’s speak later, if the Twittersphere doesn’t get me first.’

She hung up.

He didn’t need to check Twitter. A minute on Google was all it took. The Graphite Assassin was everywhere. Mugshots of Shaw and Beverage on the front page of every online newspaper, plus a video of Rita outside Kirklees HQ, announcing that a man was being questioned in connection with the murders.

The case was national news, and he’d been too drunk or hung-over to notice. He sat there, closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe slow and steady.

‘At last, you’re here!’

It was Gwyn Merchant’s voice. He took big, lunging steps across the floor towards Joe.

‘You seen this shit?’ he said, pulling up a chair. ‘Mega! Trending like a bugger. Got our own friggin’ hashtag, an’all. The business!’ He spun a phone in his fingers like a playing card. ‘You talked to the boss?’

Joe shook his head. ‘Not yet.’

‘We’ve got a team on it. That Patriot League member list? We reckon half a dozen of ’em are tweeting.’

‘How do you know it’s them? Don’t they use fake names?’

‘Some do. Some don’t. We’re looking at their tweet histories, matching up names, locations, stuff they’ve posted about in the past. Alex is on it, big time.’

‘Is he? Since when?’

‘Since now. Look at this shit!’ Merchant said, brandishing his phone with pure adolescent delight.

Joe read a tweet:

Police shld find who killed them scumbags + SHAKE HIS BLOODY HAND!!!! #graphiteassassin

And another:

It cost cops £££s to catch druggies + rapists, they get free defence lawyers (more £££s), then more taxpayer £££s to keep em in jail. #graphiteassassin done us all a favour!

‘And these are from members of the Patriot League?’

‘Some of ’em. It’s goin’ off big time about Turner. They’re on about police harassment, all that bollocks. Somebody’ll drop a nugget, though. Bound to. If these arseholes are involved, or if they know owt, it’ll come out in the end.’

‘Yeah. If.’

‘If what?’

‘If they had anything to do with it.’

Merchant sat back, put his phone on the desk between them, like a peace offering, or a challenge.