‘I can’t say.’ Craig pauses. ‘You’re telling me you never saw any disagreements between Finn and Simon?’

‘No!’

‘Never?’

The detective knows Sophie’s lying, she can feel it. Sophie remembers Finn bitching to her about Simon, but it was no more than the usual disagreements that arise between two exceptionally clever men.

‘They had different priorities, that’s all,’ Sophie says, trying to explain. ‘Simon was more interested in the entertainment. Finn knew they had to get the tests right, or the results wouldn’t stand up to professional scrutiny. But he would never have hurt Simon.’

‘Never?’

‘No.’

‘Not even if Simon was about to take all the credit?’

So they know about the paper with Sharp’s name on it, she thinks. And they’ve come to the exact same conclusion she had.

As expected, Grey pushes a document across the table towards her. ‘This is a printout of a paper found on Simon’s laptop. Startlingly similar to one Finn was writing,’ Grey says. ‘But this only has one name on the top – Sharp’s.’

Sophie looks at the printout. ‘Simon knew the Doppler was nothing without Finn,’ she tries, but she can feel her voice shaking.

‘Does it make you angry, Sophie?’ Craig asks.

‘Yes, but—’

‘So how do you think Finn felt when he found out? We found an email from Justin White to Finn. He sent it to him on Tuesday, the day of the storm. Finn knew full well what Sharp was planning. And he went into the van, ready to kill.’

Sophie’s hands fly to her mouth. ‘He wouldn’t. Not Finn.’

Craig’s face softens. ‘Or maybe he didn’t plan it. Perhaps it was a spur of the moment thing, brought on by the stress of testing the equipment and the danger of the storm. Maybe Finn didn’t mean to kill Simon. But the fact of the matter is that Sharp is dead, and Finn was the only one there.’ She pauses. ‘Sophie, look at me.’

Sophie drags her eyes from the paper in front of her, Simon’s name at the top.

The detective looks sympathetic. ‘Finn’s best bet right now is a finding by the court for voluntary manslaughter. The fact that he was an alcoholic and probably under the influence at the time could help him: his lawyers could claim the killing was carried out without specific intent.’

‘What does that mean?’ Sophie whispers.

‘Essentially that he was so drunk he didn’t have the state of mind capable of murder,’ Craig explains. ‘He could plead guilty to manslaughter and his sentence would be much, much less.’

Sophie shakes her head. He would still go to jail. Her kind, sensitive boyfriend would end up in a prison with hardened criminals. He’d never survive.