Solly rolled his eyes like it was all too much trouble and then scuttled off back through the rear door. He emerged a few moments later with an open folder, which he handed to Priest.

‘Here.’ He indicated to a printout of a series of messages between Alexia and various members of Elias Foundation staff.

‘I don’t see . . .’

Solly directed Priest’s gaze to the thumbnail picture of Alexia’s face which preceded each section of dialogue supposedly sent from her phone. Priest strained to look further. Most of the picture was taken up with Alexia’s smug-looking expression but, yes, in the background . . . the side of a house, on a grassy incline.

‘Does Alexia ever give a description of where she used to live in her witness statement?’ murmured Priest.

‘In fact she does,’ said Solly, clearly pleased with himself. ‘In anticipation of you wanting that information I wrote it down on this piece of paper. I also took the liberty of checking with the Land Registry – the house is owned by Alexia.’ Solly passed Priest the papers. ‘You can keep the pad,’ he added. ‘I’ll have no further use for that once you have touched it.’

*

Georgie had contemplated taking a bus home but elected to walk instead. The sun was breaking through the cloud covering and bouncing off the reflective glass of Holborn’s commanding office blocks. Nonetheless, she had pulled her coat tightly around her shoulders – sun or no sun, it was still cold this time of year.

When she finally got in, Georgie found Li in the kitchen frantically moving between three different boiling pots on the hob. The sides were cluttered with various packets that looked like they had been opened by a rabid dog. The thick covering of vapour hung to the ceiling.

‘Hi,’ Georgie said, taking in the scene.

‘Hi!’ Li called back. ‘I’m doing a stir-fry. Would you like some?’

‘Is it a stir-fry or a nuclear missile test?’

Li laughed manically. ‘I’m not sure it’s going to be very good. I’ve never done stir-fry before.’

Georgie inspected the chaos and picked up a half-used tin of kidney beans. ‘There seems to be an awful lot of ingredients for a stir-fry.’

‘What?’ Li shouted over the sound of water hissing off the hob as she hauled a pan to the sink.

She could see that Li didn’t need distracting from what was already a total shambles, so she asked Li to call her when it was ready and headed to her room. It was a mixed blessing. No doubt the entire contents of the fridge would have been poured into the meal but Li’s attempt at cooking indicated that she wasn’t expecting a client this evening.