By the early hours of the morning, the whole of Santa Magdalena had become a crime scene. The dilapidated structure of the care home glimmered blue as innumerable beacons swirled lazily along its drive, maybe a dozen police vehicles intermingled with CSI vans. The main building had already been cordoned off with incident tape, while an outer cordon had been deployed around the perimeter of the grounds, including the lake. Nobody moved in the inner circle unless they were clad neck-to-toe in Tyvek. A few yards to the right of the building’s main doors, a couple of detectives and medical personnel stood in discussion alongside the unmoving shape of Alyssa Torgau. Near to them, but outside the inner cordon, seemingly oblivious to the presence of the corpse, DSU Nehwal and a couple of her oppos from Serious pored over a collapsible trestle-table, on top of which a number of foolscap sheets had been spread out, all now encased in protective plastic. The cardboard cylinder bearing the bulldog logo, from which they’d been carefully extricated, was propped alongside them, also inside an evidence sack.

‘We’ve just heard from the hospital,’ someone said.

Lucy glanced up from where she’d been sitting glassy-eyed on the low wall at the edge of the water. Beardmore stood there. He’d removed his Tyvek coveralls and was now straightening his lapels and the knot of his tie.

‘Tessa’s going to be okay,’ he said. ‘Severe concussion, that’s all.’

‘I hope she’s not going to get into any trouble, sir?’

He shrugged. ‘She shouldn’t have come up here alone.’

‘Yeah, but from what I’ve heard, the van that led her out here was running under a duplicated plate rather than a dummy one. There was an actual vehicle of that make and model, with that same registration mark, owned by a legit firm. She had no cause to assume she was tracking a wrong un.’

He pondered this.

‘She was just following her nose,’ Lucy added. ‘Having a bit of a snoop. Isn’t that what good detectives do?’

‘She could’ve called it in when she heard the baby.’

‘Come on, sir. Moment of panic. She probably would’ve done anyway, but they clobbered her as soon as she ran inside.’ She shook her head grimly. ‘It fooled me too, I’ll be honest.’

‘Yeah, well, to tell the truth, Lucy … it’s you that’s giving me the headache. Not Tessa.’

She glanced up at him.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be on sick leave?’ he said.

‘Oh,’ she sighed. ‘It’s a long story, sir.’

‘And what’s all this “sir” business?’

‘Sorry, Stan. I’m not quite with it.’

‘You don’t believe in making my life easy, do you?’ he said. ‘How can I put you forward for a commendation when you weren’t even supposed to be here?’

Even in her current state of mind, Lucy was surprised by that. ‘A commendation?’