There was the slightest blush in her cheeks. Surprise? He often got that. He simply didn’t look like a copper.

‘I’m investigating the murder of a young man. Quite close to here. You might have seen it on the news?’

‘I haven’t seen the news for a few days. Was it recent?’

‘Yes. Craig Shaw. Last seen down near the town centre on Tuesday evening. Perhaps you’ve seen him around?’

He found a photo on his phone.

She looked at the image of Shaw, took her time.

‘Should I have? I don’t think I’ve seen him here in the library. And certainly not at school.’

She returned to the poster. But the poster didn’t need her attention. There was a moment’s deliberation, for them both. It was silly, Joe told himself, now, in the middle of a murder investigation. He hedged his bets.

‘I’d be able to find you at the school? For some background on the town? It’s always useful to speak to a teacher, someone who knows the place, the people. I’m from Leeds. Not too familiar with this part of the world.’

She remained there, looking at the poster. Then she turned.

‘Chris Saunders.’ She took a phone and waved it in front of him. ‘I’d be happy to help.’

He knew what Bluetooth was, but not how to do it on his new iPhone. Besides, whenever he tried to use Bluetooth something always went wrong. It was like a digital will-o’-the-wisp, impossible to pin down.

She recognized his helplessness, and recited her number for him. As he wrote it in his notebook she moved closer and watched, as if checking his work for errors. Her perfume reminded him of those first optimistic months in France, when everything had smelled sweet.

‘I damn well can!’

The raised voice took them both by surprise. They turned to see a middle-aged man holding a poster. Between him and the other notice board was the librarian. The two men were engaged in what looked like a form of non-contact martial arts, moving this way and that, with Mark Sugden trying to stop the poster being pinned up, both of them speaking in aggressive but hushed tones as they did their dance.

‘I say what goes up here!’

‘We booked the room. We are allowed to advertise the fact!’

‘Perhaps you should intervene?’ she said, a hint of playfulness in her voice. She was at his side, so close that they were almost touching.

At that point the man with the poster relented, uttered a huge sigh of exasperation, and looked around for moral support.

‘England! The land of petty officialdom!’

Sugden laughed out loud.

‘Put the poster up, then! See how long it stays there!’

With that he marched back into the library, where he pretended to occupy himself at the main counter, within earshot of the entrance.