‘So now,’ continued Patrick, ‘how did you get on with poor Mrs Millar?’

‘She’s devastated, naturally. But Issy is a genius. She’s managed to get Rory to open up about the night Charlie Cavendish died. She got him to tell me that Hugh Daneman had kissed him.’

‘Jesus! I thought that kind of thing had been more or less stamped out, even in English public schools. Poor little fellow, probably be scarred for life now, and I dread to think how many other boys the dirty old bugger has done it to.’ He grimaced.

‘I think this is far more complex a set of circumstances. I doubt if Hugh Daneman had ever done something like that before. But, for certain reasons, he was literally unable to stop himself. I think he was so ashamed that he decided to take his own life.’ Jazz knew she was defending Hugh for unacceptable behaviour, but given the unique circumstances, she understood.

‘Sorry, Jazz.’ Patrick shook his head, reading her mind. ‘There are no extenuating circumstances to excuse that behaviour, so.’

‘I agree with you, but Rory just happened to be the spitting image of the young man that was the love of Hugh’s life,’ she explained. ‘For a few seconds, he obviously lost control. And after that, how could he live with what he’d done? It would have come out one day. Rory told his father about it.’

‘David Millar? The old soak downstairs? Christ,’ expostulated Patrick, ‘he was drunk when he came in here an hour ago. We’re not going to get a decent word out of him until tomorrow morning. Well now’ – Patrick tapped his fingers on the desk – ‘this is starting to fit together quite nicely. David Millar murders Charlie for bullying his son, Hugh Daneman tops himself for snogging Rory, then Millar murders Julian, the incumbent lover-cum-stepfather, in a jealous rage. All sounds grand to me.’

‘I think it’s a little more complex than that, Patrick,’ Jazz replied as patiently as she could.

The exchange was bringing back memories of other cases in the past, on which they had fundamentally disagreed. Patrick used the ‘broad-brush’ factual approach, whereas Jazz had always seen the human detail. As a team, the two sets of skills could work well, but when one was trying to compete with the other, as so often had happened when they’d worked together, it was a recipe for disaster. Patrick had always wanted the case solved and fast. Jazz needed to follow her instincts and take her time, learning the stories of those involved, and exhausting every option before arriving at a conclusion.

‘I believe Millar was almost certainly covering for his son when he came up with his trumped-up story of killing Charlie Cavendish,’ she continued. ‘Remember, his ex-wife has stated David was allergic to aspirin, too. There’s just no way he’d have had some handy in his pocket.’

‘Unless it was premeditated, and Millar had bought the tablets specifically before he arrived at the school. He might be lying to you. It’s a possibility, Jazz, come on now.’