Freya and Josh watch him leave. There is no doubt about the case now: the other three boys will be arrested, their fingerprints and DNA taken, and Freya knows they’ll be a match to the exhibits collected from the crime scene and the bus shelter. Whether the three plead guilty or not doesn’t matter. Even now, Freya knows they probably have enough for the CPS to agree to charge.

Freya looks in the direction of the custody suite. ‘That poor boy,’ she murmurs.

‘Not even a boy,’ Josh replies. He sighs. ‘He’s eighteen, an adult. Same as the other three.’

‘Yeah, but that’s it. Their lives are over.’

Josh nods grimly. He knows what Freya is saying, why she feels so down, despite the fact that they have got justice for Duncan Thorpe.

Connor Vardy was someone with potential. He’d survived a shit childhood. He’d survived his mother dying, and his grandfather dying. He had support around him from Barry at the railway, and the tutors at college. Yet, on one walk home, the desire to be wanted, to be part of a group, had overtaken all common sense.

‘You don’t need me for the moment, do you?’ Freya asks. She needs a breath of fresh air; she wants to get away from the station for a while.

Josh nods. ‘Go ahead. Mina and I can take over for a bit. I’ll call you when the other three have been brought in.’

Freya goes back to the office, grabs her bag and heads out. She walks down to the car park, then phones Robin. He answers on the second ring, but his voice sounds slow and distracted.

‘You okay?’ she asks. She can hear traffic noise in the background.

‘Yeah, good. Just had a weird day. Where are you?’

‘On a break. At the station.’

‘Do you want to come and meet me?’

He tells her where he is and hangs up. She squints at the phone in confusion, then gets into her car.

Traffic is light, and the day is sunny and warm. She parks in the centre of town then walks up pedestrianised streets until the huge, dominating sight of Winchester Cathedral comes into view.

Robin isn’t the only one taking his break in the cathedral grounds. Groups of teenagers sit on the grass, sandwiches and drinks in hand. There is a feeling of fun in the air, of summer being just around the corner. She spots Robin on the far side, sitting on the grass, his legs out in front of him. His face is pointed up to the sun; his eyes are closed. He’s smiling slightly and has such an air of relaxation about him that it almost doesn’t seem like her boss at all.

He opens an eye as she comes closer, then sits up properly, crossing his legs. She collapses down next to him on the grass.

‘Are you okay?’ she asks tentatively.