He touches the green symbol and calls Freya. It rings for a bit, then cuts to voicemail. He hangs up without leaving a message. He glances at the clock, just gone half nine, and wonders where she is. Must be at home, asleep. She can’t still be at work. Even given what Baker said, that’s beyond devotion to the job.

Before Robin started working with Freya, he preferred to tackle cases alone. Constables would filter through his working day, some forced to work with him when the caseload got too much, but none he could stand. They all knew about him, knew his history. The death of his sister, his time off work after. And his manner since had hardly been approachable. He knew the whispers that had gone around the station. Lost it. Gone nuts. Stay clear.

But Freya hadn’t cared about any of that. She took the piss, ignored his blunt manner. And, better still, she got the job done. Between the two of them, they tackled case after case, starting with the death of Jonathan Miller, a man who turned out to be Freya’s lover – a fact she kept from him for the majority of the investigation.

He knows Jonathan’s murder hit her hard. Not to mention the subsequent death of Amy Miller, his wife, three weeks later.

He picks up his phone again, then puts it back down. He’ll call her tomorrow. She has a life of her own, he tells himself, leave her alone. He just wishes he had someone else to speak to.

The only other person Robin can call is Liam, his brother-in-law. He’s been missing his calls all week. But Robin knows Liam will be in bed well before this point: always up at the break of dawn for an early-morning workout. He’s reconnected with Liam over the last few months, sharing nights of football and pizza in front of the TV, trips to the pub – even the occasional run together, although Liam’s athleticism well exceeds his own. And Robin likes it. It keeps him close to the memories of his sister and his nephews; the two of them sharing stories over a beer, grief starting to evolve into something else. Something Robin can cope with.

Contemplating Liam now, thoughts of Trevor Stevens enter his head. The man who killed his sister. Who criss-crossed his life, resulting in actions and consequences that Robin had never even imagined possible.

Robin thinks about everything that happened after his sister died. And if he could behave in that way, what was Finn capable of?

What circumstances could have driven Finn to murder?

12

Sophie wearily puts her key in the door and pushes it open. She goes into her flat and closes the door behind her, dumping her bag and coat on the floor then standing in the hallway for a moment, unsure what to do.