‘I wouldn’t be here if it could wait.’ Has Ratner gone mad? He might be a decade older but Cullen is his senior. He doesn’t have to wait for Ratner any more. Ratner has to wait for Cullen.

Ratner hasn’t heard the news so Cullen relays as much as he knows. ‘I’ve just spoken to the VC. She’s keen for us to lie low on this but in private wants an audit of the bioscience modules.’

‘Why?’ Ratner says, looking alarmed.

‘She’s just being cautious. Wants to make sure we’re not putting undue pressure on the students.’

‘Biosciences is a challenging subject,’ Ratner says.

‘Do you have a pen? I’d like to write that down.’ Cullen watches Ratner go red then recover himself. ‘Look, Mark, I think you know what I’m going to say.’

‘Yes. All eyes on the department for a while. Best behaviour.’

‘Something like that.’

‘Well you don’t have to worry about me. I’ve been a good boy for months now.’

Cullen looks him up and down slowly, carefully, hoping to lock eyes but Ratner continues to gaze doggedly at his keyboard. He’s lied so many times about this stuff before. He’s probably still lying. Damn him for being so good at it.

‘This is serious, Mark. Maddy is watching and she has a beady eye.’

‘You have my word,’ Ratner says.

It’s as much as Cullen can do not to laugh. He’d quite like to punch him now, force him to admit that he’s lying, but that would give him the upper hand. Other than keep an eye on him there’s not much he can do.

Cullen gets up and turns to leave and, as he does so, he spots a small, urgent figure making her way across the car park. From some obscure part of his memory the name Nevis Smith arises. The girl who was Satnam’s flatmate. He makes a mental note to call her, fix a meeting, see if she can cast light on the incident on the bridge. He’ll need to keep control of the situation, make sure to keep himself at the centre of the information flow, be watchful and take action if necessary. Satnam, Nevis, Maddy, Keane and Ratner, from now on they need to be on his radar at all times. He can’t afford to let anything slip.