Silas looks around the kitchen, nodding at Strover to sit down too. They’re indoors but might as well be outside. The place feels almost tropical, like an outstation of the nearby Eden Project. He took Conor there once, years ago, when he was a young boy. It wasn’t a success. Conor thought it was a zoo and cried all the way round when he was told there weren’t any monkeys in the rainforest dome.

‘This is Bex, by the way,’ Kate says, turning to smile at a woman who has just walked into the room. Her hair is wet. ‘My friend from Wiltshire.’

‘Preston, actually,’ Bex says.

‘Nice to meet you, Bex,’ Silas says, standing up to shake her hand. He wasn’t expecting Kate to have company. ‘You mind if we talk to your friend in private?’

‘OK,’ Bex says hesitantly, glancing at Kate for approval.

‘Nothing personal,’ he adds. He didn’t mean to sound so formal or abrupt.

Bex turns to Kate. ‘You alright wi’that?’ she asks.

Her Lancashire accent suddenly seems to have grown stronger, more assertive. Silas likes Lancashire, used to stay at a great pub in the Forest of Bowland when he wanted to spoil Mel. Cask ales and kippers.

‘It’s fine,’ Kate says.

‘I’ll take Stretch for a walk then,’ Bex says, picking up a tiny dog from a cushion in the corner. Silas hadn’t even noticed it. He’s put bigger things in a bread roll.

They all watch in awkward silence as Bex strides through to the hall, fastens a lead on the dog and closes the front door a little too loudly behind her.

‘You didn’t say goodbye,’ Silas says, turning back to Kate. ‘Didn’t let us know you were leaving the hospital – leaving Wiltshire.’

He’s in danger of sounding like a jilted lover, but it upset him when she left without saying anything. They’d spent a lot of time together, working through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, standing in cold crowds, and he’d visited her regularly in hospital, to interview her about the crash and because he was concerned for her. The whole unit was.

‘It was a difficult time,’ Kate says. ‘New beginnings, clean break.’

‘Of course.’ Silas pauses, takes in the view again down to the sea. He’d like to retire to somewhere like this, maybe more traditional bricks and mortar, an old coastguard’s cottage overlooking the harbour. He could keep a small boat, enjoy a spot of mackerel fishing. ‘We just want your help.’

‘Sounds familiar,’ Kate says.

‘One photo, that’s all.’

‘Does this have something to do with the fire last night?’ Kate asks.

‘You know about that?’

‘Jake rang,’ she says.

‘I didn’t think you two were in touch.’

‘We’re not.’ She glances away, embarrassed.