Becks and Suzie started to wave awkwardly to Suzie’s daughter, which was the exact moment that the door opened and a female officer brought in three manila files that were bulging with paper.

‘Oh my God, that’s a bloody copper!’ the voice of Suzie’s daughter said from the phone.

Even Suzie had the good grace to look embarrassed.

‘Of course it’s a copper,’ she whispered loudly into the phone. ‘I told you, we’re at the police station.’

With a tight smile, the female officer put the three files on the table and then left the room.

Once she’d gone, Suzie said, ‘Well, she looked like she had a stick up her arse, didn’t she?’ She then told her daughter she’d speak to her later and hung up. ‘Now how do you want to do this?’ Suzie asked, rubbing her hands together like a mechanic who was about to pop the bonnet on an old car.

‘With less swearing and video calls, I think,’ Becks said.

‘How about we take a case file each?’ Judith said brightly.

‘Good idea,’ Becks said. ‘I’ll take Liz Curtis’s, if that’s okay? Seeing as I knew her.’

‘Then I’ll have Stefan Dunwoody’s case file,’ Judith said.

‘Which leaves me with Iqbal, and that’s who I’d want anyway,’ Suzie said.

The three women took seats at the table and started to leaf through the paperwork in their files.

‘You know what I want?’ Suzie said almost immediately. ‘A nice cup of tea.’

‘Oo, good idea,’ Judith said.

‘I’ll sort it out,’ Becks said, getting up and leaving the room. A few minutes later she returned with a little plate of biscuits and three steaming cups of tea.

‘Well, isn’t this nice,’ Judith said as they settled down with their tea and biscuits over their files.

‘So what do you think we should be looking for?’ Suzie asked.

‘In the first instance, I suggest we just get acquainted with the files, the witness statements, pathology reports and so on. But I think that what we’re really looking for are links between the three victims. Because their deaths have to be connected. They were killed within thirteen days of each other. Find what that link is and we’ll be able to work out who the killer is.’

‘But why don’t we focus on Elliot Howard and Andy Bishop?’ Suzie asked.

‘I think that way lies madness. For the moment at least,’ Judith added.

‘How so?’