‘His niece was dead, so she couldn’t contradict him; but he had no choice but to pretend he saw you through the study door, and didn’t talk to you. And you backed him up. Both of you, lying through your teeth, wondering what the other one was up to, but too scared to question each other. I think Tony kept telling himself he’d wait until your mother died before he confronted you. Perhaps that’s how he kept his conscience quiet. But he’s still been worried enough to ask Alison to keep an eye on you. And meanwhile, you’ve been feeding me that bullshit about Lula hugging you, and the touching reconciliation before she returned home.’

‘I was there,’ said Bristow, in a rasping whisper. ‘I was in my mother’s flat. If Tony wasn’t there, that’s his affair. You can’t prove I wasn’t.’

‘I’m not in the business of proving negatives, John. All I’m saying is, you’ve now lost every alibi except your Valium-addled mother.

‘But for the sake of argument, let’s assume that while Lula’s visiting your groggy mother, and Tony’s off fucking Ursula in a hotel somewhere, you’re still hiding out in Flat Two, and starting to think out a much more daring solution to your cash-flow problem. You wait. At some point you put on the black leather gloves that have been left in the wardrobe for Deeby, as a precaution against fingerprints. That looks fishy. Almost as though you’re starting to contemplate violence.

‘Finally, in the early afternoon, Lula comes back home, but unfortunately for you – as you no doubt saw through the peephole of the flat – she’s with friends.

‘And now,’ said Strike, his voice hardening, ‘I think the case against you starts to become serious. A defence of manslaughter – it was an accident, we tussled a bit and she fell over the balcony – might have held water if you hadn’t stayed downstairs all that time, while you knew she had visitors. A man with nothing worse on his mind than bullying his sister into giving him a large cheque might, just might, wait until she was alone again; but you’d already tried that and it hadn’t worked. So why not go up there when she was, perhaps, in a better mood, and have a go with the restraining presence of her friends in the next room? Maybe she’d have given you something just to get rid of you?’

Strike could almost feel the waves of fear and hatred emanating from the figure fading into the shadows across the desk.