‘I keep thinking maybe it wasn’t her, maybe there’s been a mistake …’ She looked to the pathologist. ‘Did you … ?’

Curt shook his head, but it was less a denial than a refusal to answer the question. Rebus and Siobhan knew Curt had been one of the pathologists at the Philippa Balfour autopsy. The other had been Professor Gates.

Claire Benzie knew it too. Her eyes were still on Dr Curt. ‘Have you ever had to … you know … on someone you knew?’

Curt glanced in Rebus’s direction, and Rebus knew he was thinking of Conor Leary.

‘It’s not a necessity,’ Curt was explaining to his student. ‘Something like that happens, you can be excused on compassionate grounds.’

‘We’re allowed compassion then?’

‘The occasional handful, yes.’ This put the smile back on to her face, albeit fleetingly.

‘So how can I help you?’ she asked Siobhan.

‘You know we’re treating Flip’s death as homicide?’

‘That’s what the news said this morning.’

‘Well, we just need your help to clear up a few things.’

‘You can use my office,’ Curt said.

As they walked, two by two, back down the corridor, Rebus watched Claire Benzie’s back. She was holding her folders in front of her, discussing her recent lecture with Dr Curt. Siobhan glanced at him and frowned, wondering what he was thinking. He shook his head: not important. But all the same, he thought Claire Benzie was interesting. The morning her friend’s murder is announced, and she’s able to attend a lecture, talk about it afterwards, even with two detectives right behind her …

One explanation: displacement. She was pushing thoughts of Flip aside, replacing them with the routine. Keeping busy to keep from bursting into tears.

Another: she was self-possession itself, Flip’s demise a minor intrusion in her universe.

Rebus knew which version he preferred, but he wasn’t sure it was necessarily the right one …

Dr Curt shared a secretary with Professor Gates. They passed through the secretary’s office: two doors next to one another, Curt and Gates. Curt turned the doorhandle and ushered them inside.

‘I’ve got one or two things to do,’ he said. ‘Just close the door after you when you’ve finished.’

‘Thanks,’ Rebus said.

But, having brought them here, Curt seemed suddenly reluctant to leave his student alone with the two detectives.

‘I’ll be fine, Dr Curt,’ Claire reassured him, as if she’d understood his hesitation. Curt nodded and left them. It was a cramped, airless room. A glass-fronted bookcase took up one whole wall. It was filled to overflowing. More books and documents covered every bit of shelf space, and while Rebus was sure there was a computer somewhere on the desk, he couldn’t place it: more documents, files and folders, learned journals, empty envelopes …

‘Doesn’t throw much out, does he?’ Claire Benzie said. ‘Ironic when you think what he does to a corpse.’