“Look, I get why you’d want to protect your kid, but we should think about stopping before we go too far. Why don’t you put it on the record? Then you can run as much evidence through the lab as you like. It’s not too late to get the search authorized if I vouch for you. Ruby’s a potential witness. If a witness is reported missing, then we can throw everything at it. And there’d be no need to sneak around.”

“But if they find out I’m related to a witness, they’ll take me off the case.”

“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”

She stopped, turned. “What?”

“I saw the way you reacted when Eddie gave you that picture of Constance B. It was a picture of Ruby, wasn’t it?”

Jo couldn’t react quickly enough; she fumbled for an answer. “I …”

“You know she could be the one who attacked Gregor?”

“Nobody asked you to be here, did they? In fact, I recall asking you more than once to be somewhere else entirely.”

“I want to help you, Jo. I won’t tell the DI. Just be straight with me, now and in the future.”

Joanna studied her friend’s face. After a while, she decided to trust him. “If Ruby was involved in the attack on Franks, then she would have had a good reason. She’s a good person, Steve. She helps people—she doesn’t hurt them. She was helping the old woman, wasn’t she?”

He nodded. “I’m sure you’re right. But if she’s committed a crime, that changes things.”

“She hasn’t. I know her. And if anyone asks you what happened here, you’ll tell them. I broke the door down, I ordered the search. That is a direct order. Though you don’t seem to be putting much store by those today.”

Just then there was a sound in the hallway, and both of them froze. Harper crept to the spyhole and peeked out, caught a glimpse of a neighbor walking toward the lifts. The noise must have been their door closing. Had this neighbor noticed the broken lock? Jo knew they had to get out of there. Someone from work would see her car parked in the lot, and then, if they went to Gregor’s flat and she wasn’t in it, they’d start to wonder. Even if they didn’t notice her unmarked vehicle, Atkinson had come in a patrol car.

“Listen,” she said, her voice a controlled whisper, “I only need a couple of days. If I can speak to Ruby, find out what’s going on, then I’ll put it all on record after that. Two days. Tops. Then if I haven’t reported it, you can do it.”

“I can’t blow the whistle on you. And you know it.”