Albertina turned to me, controlled her breathing, and asked whether it was alright if she could choose her own responsible adult – thank you very much.

Her dad was a lot of things, but he wasn’t stupid. So the next responsible adult was a suspiciously competent criminal solicitor whose parents might have been from the Kashmir but who spoke with a Bradford accent. He also slicked his thick black hair back with gel and, I suspected, wished he could wear his aviator sunglasses indoors. We got on famously.

Stephanopoulos took the opportunity to get a separate statement from Albert Pryce and sent in Guleed to do the honours. I wondered what she was going to make of the mad mullahs.

‘I’m sorry about my dad,’ Albertina said as soon as we sat down.

I’d fetched in some coffee for me, a bottle of iced tea for her and a plate of biscuits to add to the whole we’re just having a chat vibe and Stephanopoulos gave me permission to take off my jacket and roll up my sleeves.

‘Mine always talks about jazz,’ I said.

‘You have it easy,’ she said and we both turned to the solicitor who gave a little shake of his head.

‘Can I remind you that we’re conducting an interview here,’ he said.

‘Come on,’ said Albertina. ‘You have a go, too. Then we can get all serious.’

‘Politics,’ said the solicitor finally. ‘He goes on and on about the partition.’

Albertina asked what partition that was.

‘The partition of India,’ said the solicitor. ‘Now can we get on?’

Albertina sighed and asked me what I wanted to know.

‘When was the last time Christina stayed the weekend at your place?’ I asked.

‘Three weeks ago,’ she said. I looked up the dates and confirmed them.

‘And before that?’

Albertina had to think about it, but she thought it was probably three or four weeks before that.

‘Do you know if she was telling her father that she was staying with you, but then staying with somebody else?’ I asked.

‘Definitely,’ she said. ‘I had to cover for her.’

‘Do you know who Christina was staying with?’

‘Some man,’ she said with a definite emphasis on the word man – as opposed to a boy.

I asked if this man had a name.

‘Raymond,’ she said. ‘No wait. Reynard – like he was French.’

‘Did you ever meet him?’

She shook her head.

‘So you never met him?’ I asked this to avoid the whole for the record Miss Pryce has shaken her head, which can come back to bite you in court.

‘I never met him,’ she said.

‘But you knew he was an adult?’

‘It’s not like Christina ever shut up about it,’ said Albertina. ‘Although, to give her her due, unlike Dad, she didn’t feel the urge to write it all down and publish it for everyone to see.’