He knew it might be the last time. In future, depending where he ended up, he might have to learn to behave.

Claire Mulholland had inherited Gillard’s pub fight case from Saturday night. She had charged a young tearaway called Brendan Maguire with affray, drunk and disorderly, and assault but still had to identify another lad, who had been caught on CCTV throwing punches, and trying to kick one of those on the floor. Witnesses identified him as a scaffolder just known as Pikey Steve. The victims, Paul Welby and Jason Waddington, who had been on the losing end of this fight, were hardly angels themselves. The CCTV data stick that Gillard had passed to Claire had proved invaluable in unravelling the complicated punch-up that swirled around the pub.

‘I don’t think any of them are going to worry too much about this,’ she told Gillard, as they shared a starter of onion bhaji. ‘Maguire is pleading guilty, and will probably get community service and bound over. He claims that he doesn’t know Pikey Steve. I could try and track down every scaffolding firm in the area,’ she said. ‘But with the workload I’ve got, it’s hardly worth spending all that time if at the end of it he just gets a smack on the wrist from the magistrates.’

Gillard nodded. ‘Always the same. You just feel like you’re spending all day rolling a boulder uphill. Still, if we can’t prosecute people like him when we’ve got such good CCTV, what chance have we got when there isn’t any clear evidence?’

The mood improved as they began the main course, a prawn balti for Claire and a murgh masala plus saag bhaji for Gillard. Two huge, toasty-hot Peshwari naans arrived shortly afterwards.

‘So, any clues about Mrs Roy’s killer?’ she asked, as she tore a chunk off the bread, releasing a delicious aroma of almond paste and herbs.

‘Nothing clear yet. The only DNA on her skin was canine, two samples, one of which matched her own dog. Elimination samples from Kirsty Mockett and the male dog walker match what we have found on her coat. That could be from where they covered her over with a dry-cleaning bag. CSI also found a single hair on her lapel that has yielded some unidentified human DNA. Of course, with a coat, depending where it’s been hung up, it could be all sorts of hairs, and it could have dropped off the bag too. I’ve asked Gabby Underwood to get elimination samples from Mrs Roy’s family and close colleagues. There do appear to be glove prints on her coat’s shoulder too.’

‘Well, that might dovetail with what we have for the dog,’ she said. ‘The vet gave him a good once-over. He had bruise injuries on his head and shoulders consistent with having been struck by the murder weapon or something similar. She also found a couple of threads of material on his jowls, which conceivably might be fragments of the assailant’s trousers, but of course could be from anything he’s been rooting in.’