‘No – that came a year or so later. He had another job – I don’t know what it was. He gave that up and applied for a police cadetship. When he was recruited as a full constable he appears to have thrown himself wholeheartedly into the job. A way of keeping his mind away from other things? He did well. A lot of new police officers are like that. They often see joining the police as a new start, a chance to put things behind them. I know the feeling, sir. That was me too. For the first two years I was the keenest young cop on the force.’

Like Spoder, I felt some sympathy for the young Enver Jeksid. He was still more or less unknown to me, but I was glimpsing the details of his life as they took on a comprehensible shape.

I said: ‘Spoder, have you written all this down?’

‘No – but I’ve sent you links to the internet sites where you can find everything.’

‘Thank you.’

Yes, but that meant of course I would have to spend more time looking through these old records. Many of the links Spoder would have sent me were likely to be duplicates of sites I had already found, or mirror sites with the same data. I didn’t want to discourage him. Then the others, the ones I hadn’t yet seen: it would be a case of working through them to confirm what Spoder had just told me.

‘Couldn’t you print out the relevant ones, and let me have them next time I see you?’

‘I’ve already emailed them to you. It’s always best if you have the original data. You told me that once.’

‘I know.’ Spoder was only doing exactly what I asked of him. I went on: ‘So where were Jessa and her husband when Lew was murdered?’

‘That is something I haven’t been able to find out. All I know is that Lew was living alone.’

I took a break from the phone call, and told Spoder I would look at what he had sent me, and call him back. I tried contacting Jo again – she was still not answering, but I knew she was likely to be busy. I made some coffee, then strolled around the garden in the warm sunshine. Barmi was sunning himself outside the garden windows.

I returned to my desktop computer and started to search the links Spoder had sent. The story had finally taken hold of me. All these people, all these old killings. They were gaining in depth and solidity for me at last, becoming human. Everything would make sense in the end.