The bus reached the edge of London and the roads widened. The periods of continuous motion stretched longer and as the bus found its place in the steady procession on the motorway the excited subs started to grow soberer. The anxious hilarity of departure wore off. Conversations quietened and became serious. Several remembered to send messages to their families. Jeremy texted Louise that everything was fine and they even had a police escort. The Beagle was passed from row to row and finally it came down the pecking order to Will.

He opened it and found the pages were stiff with glued-in sheets of printed A4. Turning haphazardly, he read: ‘In regard to the case of Oliver Bruntsfield, real name Oliver John Martin, the popular singer in whose swimming pool a man was found dead during a party, we have given an undertaking not to print the following remarks by a responding policeman, from, “That bent bastard definitely did it” down to “The guy’s arsehole was like the Japanese flag”. Please contact the Legal Department with any queries.’

The chief roused himself. He shifted his bulk forward and folded his forearms on the top of Will’s seat. ‘Great stuff, isn’t it, grasshopper?’

‘What are you reading about?’ Jeremy, too, looked over the seatback.

The chief said, ‘The Olly Bruntsfield quotes from Plod.’

Jeremy winced. ‘Uff. I wish I’d never heard that.’

Will asked, ‘Is this… I mean, is this really true?’

‘Of course it’s true, young grunt. In fact, you can be more sure it’s true than anything that makes it into print, because it’s taken some of Britain’s finest legal minds to keep it from getting there.’

‘But Bruntsfield got off, didn’t he?’

‘I’ll say he got off.’

They laughed, and Jeremy said, ‘Do you remember that one from Plod when they found Maria Elmersson naked in bed with her wrists cut? How did it go? Something about her gashes and—’

The chief spoke over him. ‘It was the forensics, after he’d examined her, and he said: “That’s the first time I’ve seen a woman with three gashes – and all of them bloody.”’