This all centres on DH Biotech, but we don’t have anywhere near enough evidence to go after them. They’ll have lawyers crawling all over us the second we make any sort of move. Or start burning down Vermeer’s place. I decide not to tell her this. Her phone rings and she answers it whilst I realize I’ve made a mistake. I asked for Dirk’s sister to be put in protective custody, but what I should have done is sprung a trap for Rein Benner, made sure a decoy was in place. I check the time then get on the phone. Once I’ve sorted it out I hang up and wait for Vermeer to finish. Judging by her face whatever she’s hearing isn’t good.

‘Yes, we’ll be right there.’ She hangs up. ‘That was Beving on the phone; he says we need to get back to Dirk Zeeman’s right now. They’ve found something.’

Back in the car I find the piles of paper we’d left there earlier and I sift through them as Vermeer drives. One of her finger’s tapping on the wheel the whole way. I’m starting to hope she’s all right. Just as we’re pulling into the street I start reassembling the papers when one slides over the photos of the volunteers.

And suddenly it all comes into focus. The lower half of Rein’s face is partially covered, hiding the beard and allowing me to see what I’d not been able to see before.

The reason he looks familiar.

My stomach feels like I’ve just jumped off a cliff. Fuck.

‘Look at this.’

Vermeer glances over. ‘What?’ She seems annoyed, distracted.

‘This, Rein Benner. Only it’s not Rein Benner. It’s Sander Klaasen. They’re the same person.’

She glances across, then shakes her head. ‘I don’t really see it.’

But then she’d not known Klaasen. I had. I’d sat opposite him in interview rooms. I’d watched him during his trial. I was there when the judges sent him down and he looked across the courtroom at me with hatred in his eyes. How did I not see this before?

‘It’s him. It’s definitely him.’

‘Impossible. He was in prison. And you said he’s now dead.’