Put on the spot, Craig thought about it. To break the tension, Lolly pointed at a smear of fingerprints on the woodwork. ‘You missed a bit.’

‘Thanks.’ Jon pointed the nozzle and the spray hissed over the surface of the door. ‘You’re probably thinking, what the hell is he doing, but I’m afraid our cleaning budget has been halved, local authority cuts and so forth, so we’re forced to do some of it ourselves, otherwise it just gets filthy.’

‘You’re very good,’ Lolly said cheerfully. ‘You can do my flat as well, if you like.’

‘I’d give you a very reasonable rate, but you have to provide the apron.’

Lolly giggled, just as the office door opened and a middle-aged woman came in. ‘Oh.’ She looked surprised. ‘What are you doing—’

‘I’m sorry, Kathy,’ Jon said quickly. ‘We’re just having a quick chat and then I’ll be right out.’

The woman blinked. ‘Are you sure you should be—’

‘Do you mind getting us a coffee?’ He turned to Lolly and Craig. ‘Or tea, perhaps?’

‘Not for me, fanks,’ said Lolly, and Craig shook his head.

‘I promise we won’t be long.’ Jon smiled warmly at the woman and shut the door in her face. ‘Kathy’s a nice lady, but a bit set in her ways. Excuse me a moment.’

When he slipped outside, Lolly whispered fiercely to Craig, ‘Try and be nice to people.’

‘I’ll do that,’ he said, ‘if you cut out the flirting. Someone has to stay professional.’

‘That’s a bit rich coming from you, mate!’

Jon came back into the room and said, ‘Sorry about that. Look, I’ve got to be somewhere else. We’ve got a bloody budget meeting, yet more financial firefighting, so can we get this over with?’

‘If you could give us the names of the people at your group therapy sessions, we’ll be gone.’

Going to an open filing cabinet, Jon flicked through the folders inside. He frowned and pulled one out, examined it, and then placed it in a satchel.

‘A lot of our clients are people who have fallen foul of the law. As you will appreciate, many of them can go to extreme lengths to feed their addiction. We hear a lot of nasty stuff in this place, there’s regrettably a lot of criminality, but we’re not here to point the finger. What we provide is a safe space, somewhere our clients can come and not feel threatened that they’re being judged, or will be reported to the police.’

‘I get all that,’ said Craig shortly, ‘but a woman has died and her death may well be connected to the disappearance of two teenagers.’

‘I read about them,’ said Jon.