‘That’s bloody ridiculous!’ Dani said, and the glare McNair gave in return showed Dani had just earned herself another black mark. But how was she supposed to act? And how was she ever supposed to get back to just being a normal detective if everyone was always going to treat her with kid gloves now?

‘If it’s continuity you want we could always have Easton up there too,’ McNair offered.

Dani was even less happy about the prospect of giving her podium position away to a DS.

‘Ma’am, I agree with Stephens,’ Fletcher said to Dani’s surprise.

Dani welcomed the intervention, though she realised it only made Fletcher seem even more righteous and in control.

McNair looked at Fletcher and sighed. ‘Very well. Stephens, me and Fletcher. Easton, you’re sitting this one out. But, Stephens, you’re there to take questions on this case only. If anyone talks about… you know—’

‘Understood,’ Dani said, still angry, but accepting she’d got the outcome she wanted.

Though as it turned out, Dani wasn’t so sure about that. Yes, she wanted to be up there in front of the cameras, as the Senior Investigating Officer, because she wanted so badly to get her life, and her career, back on track. But when McNair opened the doors a moment later, and Dani saw the gaggle of reporters and photographers, and the cameras started flashing incessantly, almost blindingly, Dani immediately felt nauseous again.

For the first ten minutes the press sent an inevitable barrage of questions Dani’s way, largely related to her fuck-up of a brother, and Dani was soon feeling as dazed as she was depressed. McNair, increasingly angry with the reporters, successfully shot down each and every attempt to steer the conversation down that path, and finally questions were being fired relating to the dead body found that morning.

‘Have you identified this young woman?’ came a clarifying question from a reporter from the Birmingham Mail.

‘No,’ McNair said. ‘I think we’ve made that clear already, which is one of the reasons for holding this press conference. The sooner we can identify her, the sooner we’ll be able to properly target the investigation and catch her killer.’

A lengthy back and forth began as to the nature of the killing and whether the police believed it was random or targeted, whether it was a crime of passion or a planned attack, whether it was gang-related or not. Anything that came Dani’s way she answered as blandly and as safely as she could, though all the talk of killers and victims started to trigger thoughts of her own dark past, and her mind began to fog over.

‘DI Stephens, this is your first case since returning to the force following the successful murder conviction of your brother?’ came a question from a smartly dressed male reporter Dani didn’t recognise.

‘Correct,’ Dani said.