Bish was becoming quite a fan of Katherine Barrett-Parker.

Before he left, he went up to see Fionn. The door was shut and he heard laughter coming from inside.

‘He’s got a visitor,’ one of the nurses told him cheerfully. ‘Two mornings in a row. Go on in. I doubt he’ll mind.’

But he shook his head, glad the kid had friends coming through. ‘I think he’s spent enough time with us oldies around him.’

‘Speak for yourself.’

He went to walk away, but stopped. What if it was Violette or Eddie in there?

‘Is it a girl?’ he asked the nurse.

‘No. One of the lads in his form at school.’

Back home, Bish stopped at his local for a drink. He had avoided it for weeks, not wanting to explain why he wasn’t at work, and now he sat at the back where he was surrounded by TV screens. It was sombre viewing. A Sky News special edition of three of the funerals taking place. White balloons hovering above Astrid Copely’s village in Devon. A transcript of the heartbreaking eulogy by Julius McEwan’s childhood best friend being read aloud. The coffin of Lucia Ortez being carried up a stony outcrop in Basque country to an 800-year-old chapel by the kids she grew up with, all of them taking their turns. Add to that Bish’s memory of Stevie’s funeral and the drowned body of the anonymous girl in the Calais morgue, and it was too much to bear.

Grazier rang for an update and Bish told him about Katherine Barrett’s vandalised garden.

‘When did it happen?’ Grazier asked.

‘Back in May.’

‘Did they report it?’

‘No. And, surprisingly, their own security footage for that night got damaged.’

‘What are you thinking?’

‘She’s hiding something,’ Bish said. ‘Perhaps an affair. She may know whoever was responsible and wants to keep it from her husband.’

‘I’ll get Elliot to look into it.’

‘No, I’ll do it ––’

‘I need you for something else.’

According to Grazier, Noor LeBrac had received a letter from her daughter. Although it was intercepted in the prison mailroom, a decision had been made by the acting governor of Holloway to release it to LeBrac. Apparently there was nothing in it of concern, but the Home Office wanted it regardless.

‘And you want me to go in there and wrestle it from her?’ He’d lost count of how many drinks he had consumed. ‘Right now—’

‘Get to Holloway, ask her politely to hand it over and we’ll take care of politely asking the officer in charge of mail to send anything from Violette straight to us in the future,’ Grazier said. ‘There was another bashing this afternoon. Same age as Violette. Same colouring. The parents don’t want it made public. Tell LeBrac that if she doesn’t give you the letter she’s putting her daughter and Eddie Conlon in danger.’

Bish could just imagine how much Noor LeBrac would appreciate being told she was the one responsible for her daughter and Eddie being in danger.