‘Hi, we just wanted to ask you a few questions about your neighbour, Finn. If that’s OK?’

‘Um, sure. I don’t know him very well though,’ she said.

Imogen wasn’t sure, but she thought the girl was blushing at the mention of Finn. She pulled out her notepad.

‘What’s your name, please?’ Adrian asked, anticipating Imogen’s next question.

‘I’m Heather Randall.’

‘Did you ever see Finn with this girl?’ Imogen said, holding up a picture of Caitlin Watts with her free hand.

‘Yes. A couple of times. He didn’t spend a lot of time in halls though, to be honest.’

‘Did he hang out with anyone in particular here?’ Adrian asked.

‘He had a fight with the guy down there. I think his name is Scott.’ She pointed to a door at the end of the hall. ‘Number seven.’

‘Thank you.’ Imogen smiled at Heather, who shut the door as quickly as she had opened it. Imogen scribbled down everything the girl had said before they walked down the corridor to the room she had pointed at.

Scott had music thumping and the unmistakeable aroma of weed permeated through the door. Adrian banged on it hard. The music stopped and after a few moments of clattering, the door opened. Scott had unruly curls that hung in front of his eyes; he was young-looking, they all were. Imogen had to face the fact that she wasn’t a teenager any more, even though in her mind she had never considered herself a grown-up.

‘What?’ Scott said.

Imogen held up her warrant card; she didn’t need to, but all things considered she wanted to see the look on his face as it slipped into a panic about whether he looked stoned or not. He did look stoned. He looked very stoned.

‘What’s your full name and course, please?’ Imogen said.

‘Scott Joseph Woodlaw, I’m reading economics.’

‘Finn Blackwell. We heard you had an altercation with him,’ Imogen said.

‘That psycho? He tried to fucking choke me.’

‘Why?’

‘I didn’t know she was his girlfriend, that Caitlin girl, she certainly didn’t act like she was. She came in here for a … for some … help with something and he practically dragged her out and then started punching the shit out of me, then got me in a headlock,’ Scott explained. Caitlin had probably gone in there to get high without actually paying for her own supply.

‘Did you report it?’ Imogen asked.

‘No, I just stayed away from both of them. I used to keep my door open, but now I lock it. I haven’t seen him since. He ain’t right.’

‘What about this boy? Do you know him?’ Imogen said as she scrolled until she found a picture of Russ Beacham and then held it up to him.

Scott shook his head. ‘No, never seen him before.’

‘We may need to talk to you again, Scott. You might want to ease off on the hash until we do,’ Adrian said with a little wink in Scott’s direction.