Mills considered the question. There was no one on the Force he admired as much as Joe, and there was no one else he could really call a friend. Their families had spent summer holidays together. Even their kids liked each other. Then Joe had gone to Interpol. That had messed things up a bit. In fact, it had messed everything up.

‘Kirklees wanted overall control. You stay on the Shaw case, though.’

‘OK. I’m sure you argued my corner.’

‘I bloody didn’t. They’ve got a team ready to go. Whereas I’ve got some knobhead who’s been in France translating international arrest warrants and playing pétanque. It’ll save us a fair bit of money, an’all.’

‘I assume I’m not getting any more men this end?’

Mills exhaled, long and hard. And he was a bulky guy; there was a lot of air to come out. It was the same when the two of them were out drinking. There’d be too much beer, then a late-night curry, washed down with more needless pints. At some point Andy would just sit back, empty his lungs, and he’d be done. Half-comatose, he’d stagger to a taxi rank, his night over. You either love a bloke for that, or you don’t.

‘Money’s too tight to mention, pal. If you need owt, ask. But from what I’ve heard, they’re gonna have more to go on with the second body.’

‘OK, OK. Who do I report to over there?’

‘Yeah, it’s, y’know, who you’ve been working with.’

‘Rita! She gets a double murder, and I get the shaft.’

Mills shrugged.

‘She’s local, and she’s got experience of the kind of folk they’re looking at. Who would you have chosen?’

Joe had to admit it, he’d’ve chosen Rita too.

‘Thing is,’ he said, ‘we just got a main suspect.’

Mills nodded. ‘Let them have it. You’re still officially SIO on the first murder, but you’ll be answering to Kirklees on the overall investigation. Sorry, mate. You want an unsolved against your name? Two? If it’s black on black, let them have the bad stats.’

‘It’s not black on black.’

Mills raised his eyebrows.

‘OK. What is it, then?’

‘I dunno just yet.’

‘That’s the ticket. The Joe of old!’ Mills said, venting his exasperation into the air above him as he made his way to the door.

An hour later, the investigation hub for the double murder was up and running at Wakefield HQ. Joe made sure all the case files on the system were copied across. Two data clerks helped him, scrupulously polite and efficient, avoiding eye contact as they worked. The last items to go were Turner’s lists of the members of the Patriot League and the Lobster Pot discussion group. They were scanned and uploaded, with copies emailed directly to Rita.