‘Right. That we know about. So from the moment we found out that Ben had been murdered, she was already joint top of the list of suspects. And now there’s a trail directly connecting her to Lance Wheeler. Plus,’ Nicky went on, ‘it’s clear something went wrong in her life at some point. You remember her grades? They dipped almost immediately after Ben went missing, and from what I’ve been able to find out, it’s been pretty much downhill for her from there. She’s living on the streets, estranged from her family. She was clearly damaged by something. Haunted by it, maybe?’

‘Maybe,’ Fleet agreed, playing devil’s advocate now. ‘But you went to boarding school, you know what it’s like. How was it Randy put it? Some people are so messed up by the experience that they end up overdosing on heroin before they reach twenty-five. You said Melissa was an addict, right?’

‘That’s what the manager of the shelter told me.’

‘So maybe … I don’t know. Maybe she was just unlucky in life. Maybe it was Ben going missing that scarred her, particularly if they were genuine friends, and she was only reaching out to Lance because she felt she needed to reach out to someone after finding out what really happened to Ben. Someone who would understand how she was feeling. Maybe we only think she’s gone to ground, when really …’ Fleet stopped himself, but he could tell Nicky knew what he’d been about to say. Maybe Melissa’s body would be the next one they discovered, and this time it would be suicide.

‘Apart from all of which,’ Fleet said, ‘we still can’t rule out Lance Wheeler as Ben’s killer. Everything you just said about Melissa could apply to him as well. He hadn’t fallen as far as Melissa, perhaps, but considering his potential when he was younger, he wasn’t exactly living up to expectations. So maybe, over all these years, he was struggling to come to terms with something he did, too.’

‘But if Lance killed Ben, who killed Lance? Unless Randy was wrong about it not being suicide. With the timing, and the note Lance left, it would certainly tie things up nicely. It could even be Lance in the CCTV footage.’

Fleet thought of Randy’s text, and wondered what else the pathologist had discovered. But he’d also made it clear that his primary conclusion hadn’t changed.

‘I’d say the chances of Randy being wrong are pretty slim,’ Fleet said. ‘But we know Lance was struggling financially. Possibly he was in even more debt than we realise. Perhaps he was killed because of that, and the timing in terms of Ben is coincidental.’

From nowhere, Fleet heard Manish Apte’s voice. Come now, Detective Inspector. Even to me that sounds like reaching.