He looked it over and put it on the desk. ‘Is there anything else?’

‘Not that I can think of right now. If I do, I’ll come and speak to you again.’

‘You do that,’ Imogen said.

‘I have something really embarrassing to ask you,’ Caitlin said to Adrian, continuing to ignore Imogen’s existence.

‘Shoot.’

‘I lost my bus pass and I need to get back home. I don’t suppose you could lend me money for a taxi?’

It took all of Imogen’s strength to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

‘I can get someone to drop you home if you want?’

Imogen folded her arms and looked at Adrian.

‘Could you do it? I’m a little weirded out by this murder. It’s probably someone I know, and it was so violent. Who does that to another person?’

And just like that, she was crying.

To Imogen’s amazement, Adrian picked his coat off the back of his chair. Whatever this girl was doing, it was working. She was a stunning-looking girl; the kind of girl Imogen might have stared at for long periods of time in school and wondered if maybe she wasn’t heterosexual after all. Her jet-black hair and big blue eyes, now watery and vulnerable, were a winning combination. Was it really this easy? Was every man just looking for a damsel in distress? A chance to be a hero?

‘I’ll see you later, Grey.’ He ushered Caitlin Watts towards the door and left with her.

Imogen couldn’t believe what she had just seen. Adrian had been the one who commented on the trustworthiness of the girl and now here she was, wrapping him around her little finger.

Imogen grabbed the article off Adrian’s desk and read through the piece that suggested the boy just couldn’t cope with university and had taken his own life. There was a quote from Hugh Norris, the dead professor. He had said Owen had a ‘bright and promising future’ in philosophy and that he was a ‘deep thinker’, which had probably added fuel to his depression. Imogen wondered if his depression was documented in his medical records. Seeing as she had lost her partner to the siren call of whatever the hell that was, she needed someone sensible to help her work through this new evidence; Gary Tunney, the district’s forensic computer analyst, could help her find out. There had to be a connection between Owen’s death and the Hugh Norris murder. Maybe someone thought Norris was responsible for Owen’s death. She needed to find out if Owen had bonded with anyone on his course – maybe a friend would be able to shed more light on what actually happened.

She started writing down questions, annoyed that she couldn’t just fire them at Adrian because he had already gone. He had been acting strange since he met DI Walsh. Or maybe it was because she had left without waking him up. Things were getting complicated between them and she knew that their current situation was unsustainable. She was going to have to put a stop to their sleepovers if it was going to make things awkward between them.