Bennet said, ‘It was the 999 call that said he was drunk. The arresting officers think he’s under the influence of drugs.’

That hit her like a hammer. Nick, as far as she knew, had never taken drugs. It made no sense, like just about everything else on this unforgettable night. But it didn’t matter. Nick and Josie had been found.

That got him a sharp glance from his boss, who said, ‘But he’s okay, Anna. And now we can get his story and find out about Josie.’

‘Find out? What are you saying? Where’s Josie?’

This time Miller turned her whole head, avoiding the impersonal mirror. ‘He’s not making much sense, I’m sorry. But Josie wasn’t with him.’

The Custody Suite, a £14 million new construction, was a futuristic-looking beast three miles away, and just half a mile south of the £250 million shopping centre called Meadowhall. As Miller’s £11,000 Mondeo turned into the car park, Anna’s mind was thrown back to the day she had met Nick, both at a police station in Hackney to record witness statements. Anna had been there to give a statement on behalf of her friend, whose brother had broken into her car, and Nick was describing a figure he’d spied fleeing the scene of a mugging. That event had started so much; how would today’s shape the future?

She tried to be first out, almost before the wheels had stopped turning, but the door wouldn’t open. The DS had to do it. ‘Lawbreaker locks,’ he said, a joke about the child locks.

Miller was more serious: ‘I’m sorry, dear, but although you’re here, for the moment we have to chuck you in a room, okay? Until after we’ve seen Nick. I can’t let you just barge on in there. Are you okay with that?’

Arguing wouldn’t help and she’d never get past all the locked doors and police inside, so she nodded. All three briskly entered the building through a back entrance and followed a corridor. She had expected the zoo-like thud and roar of caged beasts, but the place was unnervingly quiet. They cut into a second corridor and then Bennet strode ahead towards double doors at the end, but Miller turned to stop her. Anna noticed a small kitchen to her left. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be chucked in a room.

She shook her head. ‘I want to see him.’

‘I’d be a muppet not to know that, dear. But it’s not a good idea until after—’

‘You’ll have him in a cell. He’s here and I want to see him. He’s innocent. He might not tell you where Josie is, but he’ll tell me. I want my little lady.’