He nodded. There was going to be far too much for the two of them, but it was difficult not to be taken up on the constant wave of Rita’s enthusiasm, the way she never took her foot off the gas, even in a restaurant. However, there was something nagging at the back of his mind.

‘What?’ she said, mid-pakora, noticing his sudden frown.

He glared at her, eyes wide open. He’d just remembered.

‘Danny Cullen’s cock. Tell me!’

She exploded. A hand flew to her mouth, but too late to contain a spray of pakora bits.

‘He was picked up for flashing!’ she said, as she dug down into her cleavage to retrieve chicken fragments. ‘Near Batley Park, late one night. Mistaken identity, but the description sounded just like him.’

‘Flashing?’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ she said as she inspected her T-shirt for stray food. ‘The reports we got were that the flasher had whopped out a massive dong.’

‘That was in the report?’

‘Plural. Two.’

‘He had two penises?’

‘Two incidents, yer twat. Both women said the same. Plus, apparently it had some sort of tattoo on it.’

‘And you dragged Mr Cullen in because of the description?’

‘Look, he was walking along the main road at midnight. A patrol car saw him. He was a perfect fit, height, body type, hair, face…’

‘All you needed was the genitalia.’

She could hardly breathe now, her ample chest heaving with laughter as she relived the interrogation of Mr Daniel Cullen.

‘We had him brought in, explained things as delicately as we could.’

‘I bet.’

‘No, no, we just said, y’know, the member in question had several identifying characteristics.’ Her face suddenly became serious. ‘Do you know what he did? No solicitor, no nothing? He dropped his kecks and pulled it out.’

‘And?’

‘Not massive. Totally ink-free, though. Respect to him,’ she said, piling raw onion onto a poppadum.

He watched her. His hunger was already on the wane.

‘What’s your thinking on the Patriot League’s heavy mob?’ he asked.

‘Daz and Ranksy? I don’t see it.’

‘They were over in Leeds visiting Shaw’s mum, threatening to sort her son out.’

‘That’s what she says. She also described herself as a drug addict, and lied to you about the car, about where her son lived, about his girlfriend. You show her photos of a couple of thugs, day after her son dies…’

‘Why would she make that up?’

‘Dunno, but if they deny it, it’s their word against hers. A lying drug addict. It’s all in your notes.’

Finally, when she realized that he was staring at her in disbelief, she put her food down.