‘Abs,’ Lolly said, ‘This is Detective Inspector Sasha Dawson.’

‘The boss lady.’ His handshake was strong and long, and accompanied by a dazzling flash of perfect white teeth. ‘Sweet.’

Sasha smiled back. ‘Mr Cruikshank.’

‘Man…’ He winced. ‘Only my bank manager calls me that. I’m Abs.’

Most of the group had dispersed now, but Lolly remained in front of him, transfixed.

‘Stand back a bit, DC Chambers,’ Sasha told her. ‘Give the poor man some air.’

‘Sorry.’ Lolly reversed quickly, stepping on Sasha’s foot in the process. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘You ever done any TV?’ Abs asked Lolly. ‘Because, if you don’t mind me saying, you’re a stunner. I can see you on Laid In Essex!’

She blinked. ‘Really?’

‘With your looks, you’d put a lot of the girls on there to shame. Or you should apply to be on Love Island.’

Lolly’s overwhelmed response came out as a little noise.

‘Yeah.’ Abs nodded. ‘Deffo.’

‘Detective Constable Chambers,’ said Sasha, breaking the spell, ‘I can take it from here. Head back to the office now, we’ve plenty to do.’

Lolly nodded, but didn’t appear to hear what Sasha had said because she didn’t move an inch.

‘You’d better go, Detective Constable Chambers.’ Abs laughed. ‘We don’t want to get you in trouble.’

Lolly reluctantly walked away down the corridor, looking back over her shoulder the whole way.

‘Sweet girl,’ he said.

‘And a very good police officer,’ Sasha made a point of saying.

Abs stroked the bumfluff on his chin, thoughtfully appraising Sasha like an artist sizing up a favourite life model. He nodded at her shock of silver hair. ‘That out of a bottle, is it?’

‘No,’ she told him. ‘It’s all my own.’

‘It doesn’t make you look old at all. When I’m your age, I hope I’ve got hair like that.’

Sasha leaned past him to open the door of the room. ‘I’ll take that as a win.’

This, she realized, was Abs’s modus operandi. He immediately complimented each and every person he met. Some of those compliments hit the target and some of them… maybe not so much. But she appreciated the intention. Sasha’s hair went white in her mid-twenties – long story – and she had long ago made a decision not to dye it. She was used to all the stares and underhand comments.

‘It’s good of you to come in, Abs,’ she said, offering him a chair. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘A friend of mine has been… well, not a friend.’ The grin on his face lengthened with anxiety. ‘He was more of a guy I knew a little bit.’

‘Andrew Dean,’ she said.

‘Deano, yeah.’ Abs looked surprised, and less than happy that she immediately knew who he was talking about. He gazed around the small room. It was just an administrative office, but coming to a police station probably brought back sour memories. ‘I was gutted to hear what happened to him, but I only met him the once. He was more the friend of a mate of mine. Tony.’