‘Yes, and yes,’ said Gibbs. ‘We’re also waiting on a list of away-days from last year that his company organised and that Liam attended. Once we’ve got them, we can see if any are a match with Kim Tribbeck’s gig dates from the first half of last year.’

‘What about Vincent Van Cop’s sketch of the man at the comedy gig? Has no one called in to say it’s Liam Sturridge?’

‘No.’ As always, Simon was pleased to be able to disappoint the Snowman.

‘Looks nothing like him, sir,’ said Sellers. ‘If he was Sturridge, Kim wouldn’t have needed to describe him to a sketch artist, would she? She’d have said, “I was given a white book by Liam, the bloke I was shagging at the time.”’

‘Assuming we can trust her,’ said Proust. ‘Assuming she’s not a fabricator. Has that possibility been thought of? Because – and I wasn’t going to say this but I will – I detect no signs of recent brain activity from any of you. You’ve been flatlining since Marion Hopwood came along and disrupted the neat best friends pattern. Her brain activity’s probably outpacing yours at the moment, and she’s dead.’

‘I think we’re all constructing hypotheses all the time, sir,’ Sam leapt into auto-mollify mode. ‘It’s just that at this point anything seems possible.’

‘Anything isn’t possible,’ Simon told him. ‘It’s not possible that Faith Kendell had a relative on Ward 10 of the RGI the day Marion Hopwood died, as she claimed. And the address and phone number she gave Lane Baillie? Nonexistent. Everything we know of her behaviour suggests guilt, I’d say.’

‘I don’t see your point,’ Proust told him. ‘You surely aren’t saying that because Faith Kendell is a liar, that must mean Kim Tribbeck isn’t one?’

‘We know Tribbeck’s a liar – to her husband, with another man,’ said Simon. ‘But we’ve no reason to think she’s lied to us, whereas we know Faith Kendell did, so let’s work with what we’ve got and concentrate on her instead of making things up. We’re almost certain it’s Billy who’s been sending New Age stories to Sondra Halliday, and we know Faith Kendell was a client of Lane Baillie’s. Lane Baillie is in the habit of introducing her clients to New Age stories. Liam Sturridge, Drew Hopwood, Gabriel Kearns – they’ve no connection to Lane that we know of. Faith Kendell’s more likely to be Billy than any of—’ Simon broke off. ‘Than anyone,’ he concluded after a second or two, frowning.

‘Nobody here has argued that Kendell isn’t our most likely suspect, Waterhouse,’ said the Snowman. ‘You’re defensive for no reason, as usual.’

‘You accused me of having less brain activity than a dead woman,’ Simon reminded him.

Proust turned to Sam. ‘That fake phone number Kendell gave to Lane Baillie – contact service providers. Find out if it ever belonged to anyone.’

‘Already underway,’ said Sellers.