Singh passed me a coffee when I met him in the station lobby. He’d obviously stopped off for a proper one on his way in rather than offering me something murky from the station drinks machine.

‘Marry me,’ I mumbled.

He laughed. ‘I think you should meet my family first.’

I laughed in return before taking a sip of the coffee, then the laugh turned into a yawn. Yesterday had been a long day, and I had lain awake until the early hours of the morning, thinking. Eventually I’d fallen asleep around three, but the four hours of sleep I’d managed to get weren’t anywhere near enough.

‘What’s happening this morning?’ I asked as he led me upstairs.

‘First, we need to coordinate the team for the case.’

‘You’re treating it as one case, then?’

‘Yes, one case with two branches. One murder, one missing teenager. Currently no solid evidence to say how they’re linked, but the connection between them is too strong to ignore.’

We turned down a long corridor, passing a couple of offices and a conference room.

‘How on earth did you talk Forest into having me at this meeting?’ I asked. The DI was far from being my biggest fan, and back in February she’d been quite glad to see the back of me once the case was over.

‘I reminded her that some of the officers would need advising on the most appropriate way to interview deaf people, and that you could provide that,’ he said, not looking at me.

‘Oh, I’m giving deaf awareness training? Couldn’t you have asked me about that yesterday, rather than springing it on me now?’ I complained, my frustration evident in my voice.

He gave me an apologetic look. ‘I’m sorry. You’re right, I should have asked you about it.’

I looked at him for a moment before nodding, accepting his apology. ‘I don’t mind doing things like that, but next time tell me in advance, okay?’

‘Promise.’

He pushed open the door and we walked into a large room I’d never been in before. Several people were already seated, both detectives in plain clothes and uniformed officers. DI Forest was standing at the front of the room, and we headed towards her.

‘Morning,’ she said, with a nod in my direction. ‘We’re just waiting for a couple of other people then we’ll get going.’

Singh pointed me to a chair at the end of the front row and I sat down, leaning on the wall and trying to shrink into it. I sat there for a few minutes, looking at my phone, until Forest called the room to order.