Nearest to her, a young pigtailed girl of around eight years, with thick glasses and a head that jerked continually, was motoring in her chair with a basketball in her lap. A large young man in a vest, with enormous biceps and thick dark glasses, tried to wheel his manual chair to intercept. The girl dodged past and accelerated, reaching another very lanky, ginger-haired girl, who plucked the ball from her lap and tossed it to a teammate further down the hall. When the ball was finally deposited into a waist-high net, there was a round of applause from the watching parents and carers, and some rather wobbly high fives on the court. Harry Roy continued to direct operations, sometimes in English, sometimes not, and it was another twenty minutes before the session ended and Claire was able to approach. She watched as parents congratulated Harry, and then wheeled their beaming youngsters away to the toilets, changing rooms, and other facilities.

Harry recognised Claire, and introduced her to some of the parents. ‘This is DI Mulholland, who is working very hard to bring us some justice.’

‘Poor Mrs Roy,’ said one middle-aged Asian woman. ‘Such a good woman, so generous to the community. As is her wonderful son.’ She gestured to Harry.

‘This is all very commendable,’ Claire said.

‘It’s just something I’ve been doing for a number of years.’

‘So does Empire of Spice pay for all this? I saw a plaque by the front door.’

‘Well, the company paid to refurbish the building several years ago. But we have to move because even this little bit of land is so valuable, being close to the airport. So we found a proper piece of greenery a bit further west. Unfortunately, what we get from selling this won’t be enough to fully equip it.’ He shrugged.

‘So what will you do?’

‘I’ve agreed to cover the difference. I think it’s important to put something back into the community, don’t you?’

Claire nodded in agreement.

‘You will have noticed Anita, in the motorised chair. She has come out of herself so much in the three years we’ve been running this. At the new place we will have a proper building for the physiotherapists, with at least one on-site at all times, and we will get a second adapted minibus. It’s actually very exciting.’

It was the first time that Claire Mulholland had seen him grin, but the smile soon faded, and he scratched his head. ‘My mother encouraged my interest in this, and would have loved to have seen us move to a better site.’

Claire began to explain the reason she had come. ‘Your mother had received some threats on social media, including some of… of a sexual nature since she had begun appearing on TV. We don’t seem to have any records of this being reported.’

‘No, I don’t think it ever was,’ he said. ‘It’s just today’s reality isn’t it? Do you think these things could be connected to her death?’