‘You’re not in trouble, Connor,’ Mina adds gently. ‘But Barry says you might know something about the group of teenagers that hang around at the bus stop.’

‘I don’t know them.’ So there are kids that hang around there, Freya thinks. The four of them sit down at the same table as before. She gets the feeling that if the old guy weren’t there, Connor would make a run for it.

‘That’s fine, Connor, just tell us what you know.’

Mina takes charge of the interview, her gentle manner better suited to calming the twitching lad. Freya admires how she doesn’t talk down to him, but lets him guide the conversation, nodding and smiling in encouragement. She may have been off for nearly a year, but the patience and grace she has honed since becoming a mother put her in a perfect position for getting a witness statement from the boy.

Freya realises that Josh has stayed away for that exact same reason.

‘You don’t want some tall, scary policeman dominating the conversation,’ he said, while Freya suspected he fancied putting his feet up for an hour, drinking tea.

After a while, Connor relaxes into the conversation, taking a sip from his can of Coke. This time, Freya and Mina have agreed to mugs of strong coffee, and Freya cups hers in her hands, as if extracting the caffeine through the chipped ceramic.

Connor attends Eastleigh College down the road. He tells them about his apprenticeship attached to a local company, and how in his time off he comes to tinker with the engines.

‘He does more than tinker,’ Headley adds with pride. ‘He fixed that engine on the track. Got her up and running in weeks.’

Connor looks embarrassed. ‘The locos make sense to me – the way they run. But they take the piss, say I’m playing with my toy trains.’

‘And these are the boys that hang around at the bus shelter, right?’ Mina asks.

‘Yes. I don’t talk to them.’

‘But they talk to you?’

Connor nods. ‘I walk that way home. They want me to buy them alcohol. They’ve been banned from all the local offies and pubs.’

‘But you don’t,’ Headley says, and Connor mumbles ‘No,’ staring at his hands.

You bloody do, Freya thinks, but she lets it go.

‘And when did you notice the freezer?’

‘It was definitely there Monday morning.’

‘Did you touch it? Look inside?’

‘No, I assumed it was rubbish. Didn’t pay it much attention.’

‘What time did you leave here last night?’ Mina asks.

‘Just after dark. About nineish.’

‘And did you see the other boys?’

Connor nods again. ‘They were at the bus stop. I think they do football at the sports ground.’

‘But you didn’t speak to them?’

‘No.’

‘And you didn’t see them by the freezer?’

Connor shakes his head.

‘And do you know their names?’ Mina pushes.