‘Milward’s in no mood to listen to me. I fucked up.’ He glared at Charlie, daring her to criticise him. ‘She was coming round to trusting me, and I threatened her. She as good as threw me out on the street. As for Kombothekra . . .’ Simon sighed heavily. ‘He rang me before, wanting to give me an update. I called him a coward.’

‘A coward?’ Charlie was confused.

‘This situation—us being out of the loop, him breaking rank and drip-feeding us information—the way I saw it, it was win-win for him. He keeps us up to speed and buys our loyalty—no way we’re going to serve him up on a plate to Proust once he’s stuck his neck out for us, right? He can tell us as much as he wants without risking anything. The more he leaks, the more grateful we are, the more we return the favour by protecting him. To us, it looks like he’s going out on a limb because he’s on our side. To the Snowman, he’s the good boy who never puts a foot wrong.’ Simon shrugs. ‘Easy way for a yes-man like Kombothekra to look like he stands for something. That’s what I thought until Gibbs phoned.’

‘And now?’

‘I was wrong,’ said Simon. ‘Seems Kombothekra’s support for us is more public than I gave him credit for. Sellers and Gibbs know he’s been in regular contact with us, and he’s been doggedly fighting my corner with Proust, too. None of which I knew when I laid into him.’

‘Sam doesn’t hold grudges,’ said Charlie. ‘Tell him you’re sorry and tell him your overblown theory. For what it’s worth, I think Seed’s a hundred times more likely to have killed Crowther than Mary Trelease is. He’s got a real motive—Crowther spent three days torturing his girlfriend.’

Simon was shaking his head. ‘Seed’s not the sort to take revenge. Nor to harm anyone deliberately—which is how I know that, whoever he strangled at 15 Megson Crescent, it wasn’t planned.’

‘What? Where are you getting all this from?’

‘Have you heard of George Fox?’ Simon asked.

‘No.’

‘Born 1624, died 1691. He was the founding father of Quakerism, pretty much invented the whole thing single-handedly. Gemma Crowther rated him.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I went to an internet café when Milward chucked me out. You don’t have to charm information out of computers, or thank them afterwards.’

Or make love to them, thought Charlie. Maybe Simon would prefer to marry a Toshiba Equium M70. Charlie only knew the name of that particular model because she owed her sister one.