Dani left that one dangling, wanting McNair to fill in the blank herself.

‘Jimmy is Paul Reeve?’ McNair said.

‘It seems so.’

‘Which means we have one dead woman and one missing woman, linked to the same man.’

Dani held back a smile. ‘Exactly.’

The debrief with McNair had gone about as well as Dani could have expected. McNair agreed Reeve was a solid lead. Once they’d tracked him down, they’d bring him in for questioning. Dani wanted to lead that herself. But even if they found Reeve straight away, she was done for the day. He could stew in a cell overnight. She was on her way out of HQ, moving towards the lifts when Easton sidled up to her.

‘Quite a day,’ he said.

‘Yep,’ Dani said, carrying on walking.

‘But we made some decent progress.’

‘We’re getting there.’

‘You live around here, don’t you?’

‘Just the other side of town.’

‘It’s pretty late, but… if you want to grab some food before you head back? I’ve got no plans.’

‘No football tonight?’ Dani said.

‘Well, yeah, if you’re interested, we could go to a bar that’s got it on.’

Dani stopped walking and Easton stopped too.

‘DS Easton, are you asking me out on a date?’

Easton looked flustered all of a sudden, like a nervous schoolboy. ‘What? No, I—’

‘I’m joking,’ Dani said. ‘Relax. Sorry, Easton, but I’ve learned the hard way not to mix business with pleasure. No offence. But thanks for asking.’

Easton looked more embarrassed than anything else.

‘Sure thing. See you tomorrow, Boss.’

Dani smiled, then headed on to the lifts.

She was walking through the near empty basement car park when she heard footsteps behind her. She tensed and glanced over her shoulder. She should have known.

‘Jason,’ Dani said, continuing to walk towards her car as he jogged up to her side.

‘Another long day,’ he said.

‘Yep.’

‘I was thinking. About what you said.’

‘What did I say?’

‘You’re right. We don’t really know each other anymore.’

Dani stopped walking, Jason did too. She turned to glare at him.

‘And? What’s your point?’

‘That I’d really like to get to know you again. If you’ll just let me. Let’s just start over. From the beginning.’

‘Pretend the last two years haven’t happened? I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.’

‘Dani, just give me a chance, please. We’ll go and get a drink. Some food. Come on, what do you say?’

Dani thought for a few moments. It was barely sixty seconds since she’d turned down Easton’s offer. In reality, a stress-free evening drinking and talking football with him was probably far better for her than sitting and skirting around major issues with Jason. But did she really want another night in all alone?