‘Where would this have been?’ she finally asks.

I tell her about Sabine. About how I haven’t been able to get hold of her. I tell her my fear that Klaasen may have hurt her, or worse, if he did indeed go there to harvest my DNA. And whilst doing so I can’t help but think of the worst possible outcome, the real reason Sabine hasn’t been answering, her body lying naked in her flat just like Dirk Zeeman.

‘Check my phone,’ I tell her. ‘There’s an image there of the man they think burned down my boat. Compare him with one of the volunteers, the one with the beard.’

Reluctantly she does.

‘Cover the beard. You’ll see it’s the same man.’

‘Why would Benner want to burn your houseboat down?’

‘Because Benner is Klaasen. And he wants to frame me as revenge for catching him in the first place.’

I take her through what I’d discovered, and she stares at the screen and the photo. She shakes her head. I think I’m losing her, despite what she’s just seen.

‘We should take him in now,’ the uniform next to her says.

If I could reach through the safety cage I’d kiss him. Because I know how Vermeer’s going to react to that. She turns the ignition on.

‘When I want to hear from you I’ll ask,’ she tells him as we pull out into the road.

I give her Sabine’s address.

‘We’re going there, and then we’re coming straight back, understood?’

‘Understood.’

‘If we find something, then you’re still under arrest until Beving says so.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Understood?’

‘Understood.’

‘Good.’

Five minutes later we’re outside Sabine’s building.

‘You stay here,’ she says to the uniform who’d given her advice. His face is impassive, but he’s boiling inside from the rebuke. ‘You’re with us,’ she says to the one next to me.

‘Cuffs?’ he asks.

Vermeer’s eyes appear as a strip in the rear-view. ‘You need cuffs, Rykel?’

‘I’m not running,’ I tell her.

She stares at me then nods. ‘Keep close to him,’ she tells the uniform.

The bell doesn’t summon anyone. Vermeer knocks a few times and calls out but still Sabine doesn’t come to the door. I’m starting to fear just what I’m going to find inside.

‘This definitely the one?’

‘Yeah, this is hers.’

‘Knock it down,’ she says to the uniform.

It takes him two well-aimed kicks, then wood splinters and the door swings open, crashing into the wall and bouncing back shut so he has to open it again.

‘Sabine,’ I call out. ‘Are you okay?’

Nothing. No movement. I need to swallow but there’s something blocking my throat.

We step into the flat, and three sets of footsteps on the wooden floor echo through the place.

‘Are you sure this is the right one?’