‘Turned out peace and solitude are overrated. Anyway, what about you? Last I heard you’d gone batshit crazy.’

‘Yeah.’ I can’t deny it. ‘But it turns out going batshit crazy is also overrated. Way, way, way overrated.’

A crunch from behind him tells us the men have managed to catch the box on the van’s door.

‘Hey! That’s nearly three hundred grand’s worth of kit you’ve got in your hands. Bit of respect.’

‘What is it?’ Vermeer asks.

‘Rapid DNA machine,’ Bakker says. ‘Gets results in ninety minutes.’

These had been talked about before I’d left, but I wasn’t sure they’d been proved reliable enough to be given the green light. Things have obviously changed in my absence.

‘Impressive.’

‘When they make it something I can plug into my phone, then I’ll be impressed. Mind you, I don’t have to carry it, so maybe it doesn’t matter. Makes my job easier at any rate. As soon as we’re set up I’ll run whatever juicy stuff they’re no doubt scraping off the floor inside.’

‘There’s blood under the victim’s fingernails,’ I tell him. ‘Make sure you check that. I’m sure you’ll find it’s not his.’

‘Turn here.’

‘What? Why?’

‘I need to go to the prison.’

Vermeer glances across at me, but then hits the indicator and we turn. Soon the Bijlmerbajes towers poke into view. The sky behind them is criss-crossed with vapour trails. We clear the first security checkpoint and drive towards the parking area in front of the towers, the car pitching and yawing over a series of speed bumps until I start to feel sick.

Vermeer asks, ‘How many have you put in there?’

‘Got to be over twenty. Haven’t felt the need to keep count.’

‘I’ve put eleven. I remember each one.’

I do of course remember. I just choose not to. How many others did I get wrong? Or was it just this one? Final bump, then we’re into the flat of the car park.

‘How many of those have been innocent, though?’

She hasn’t got an answer for that. There’s a space between a beat-up old Audi and a brand-new Tesla electric car. Vermeer eases us in.

‘You don’t have to do this,’ she says. She hasn’t turned the ignition off.

‘Give me five minutes, then we can concentrate on Benner.’

Ignition off, the car settles.

‘All right. If it’ll make you feel better.’