‘Nonsense, I sleep very little. When you’re staring down the barrel of old age, the last thing you crave is to lie alone in the silence and darkness for hours. So, what do you need? You didn’t come here at this time for tea and biscuits.’

‘Validation,’ Connie said. ‘You’ll need time for research. Sadly, that’s now limited to …’ She checked her watch. ‘Forty-five minutes.’

Ailsa raised her eyebrows and dumped several spoonfuls of loose-leaf tea into the pot.

‘That sounds more fun than sleeping. Detective Inspector, would you mind making the tea, please? I believe your colleague requires my full attention.’

The briefing room should have been full of people rubbing their eyes. The small hours was far from the ideal period to be imparting information and attempting to engage minds, but Connie had spent enough time with police forces to know that lethargy was best countered with an endless supply of strong, hot coffee, and as many sugary baked goods as could be consumed.

Detective Superintendent Overbeck was sat within a circle of unimpressed faces in the centre of the room.

‘Dr Woolwine,’ Overbeck began, bringing the room to a tense hush. ‘You have fifteen minutes to persuade us that your theory holds water. After that, the team will need to continue pursuing other avenues.’

Ailsa Lambert walked through the door, familiar black bag in hand, raincoat still on, as if she had been called in to give her opinion on a corpse. This, Connie had not asked her to do, but it was a subliminal stroke of genius. Present herself as the known element, the trusted, the authority. Much harder for her words to be ignored against such a backdrop.

The pathologist deposited her bag on a desk, shed her coat and began talking immediately.

‘In 1880, a 43-year-old woman presented to her doctor, describing herself as without a brain, a chest, or nerves. She claimed to be made entirely of skin and bones, and immortal. Since that time, cases of Cotard’s syndrome have been well-documented …’

‘One moment, please,’ Overbeck said, standing up. ‘Dr Lambert, while I’m sure we all appreciate your time and assistance, I wasn’t aware that this was your area of expertise. We certainly wouldn’t want to be keeping you from your other valuable services to our community.’

‘You’re not, Superintendent. And I’m very well qualified in reading medical journals and applying the expertise gained therein to current cases. As both Angela Fernycroft and Danny Taylor are currently open cases in my district, I judge myself to have a compelling reason for being here tonight.’

Overbeck gave the sort of smile that Connie thought was usually reserved for a prison yard shortly before a nasty fight but sat down again, crossing her long legs in a gesture that was pure female dominance. Ailsa smiled with victorious warmth.