They’ve already interviewed Tyler and Mark. Separately, but both giving identikit answers, even down to the phrasing. No, they weren’t out on Tuesday night. They were all in Mark’s garage, playing on his Xbox. Call of Duty, if you must ask. Yes, they know Connor from college, but no, they don’t hang out with him. Freezer? What freezer?

Mark Black seems to be the leader of the three – right now the other two are looking at him as he tells a story. He has a level of arrogance far above the others. Mark and Tyler laugh, and Freya watches as Lee gauges their reactions before joining in. Lee Cernis is the weak link, that’s for sure.

‘Let’s get this over and done with,’ Josh says.

They call Lee into the room. As he gets up, he looks back to the other boys. Mark Black mimes a gun with his hand, pointing it at Lee, in full view of Freya and Josh. He doesn’t give a shit, and it makes Freya’s blood boil.

Josh gives Lee the standard warnings, explains that his witness statement is a legal document and that he might have to be called to give evidence should anything go to a trial. Josh tells him he’s free to leave at any time and the statement is voluntary. Like the other two, Lee nods.

But unlike the other two, Lee is nervous, pulling at his eyebrow and staring at the tabletop. Josh asks the same questions and he gives the same answers, Freya writing them on the MG11 form.

Josh looks over to her and nods. She puts the pen down and leans forward in her chair.

‘Lee,’ she starts. ‘I know you want us to believe you’re like the other two out there, but that’s simply not true, is it?’ Lee continues to look down. ‘See, we’ve done a bit of background on you all, and what I can’t understand is why you hang around with them.’

Lee pauses the abuse of his eyebrow for a moment.

Freya pulls out her notebook and looks at the details. ‘Let’s see. Your mother is a teacher, your father is a plumber. You live in a nice part of town. You got good GCSEs, you studied hard. And yet, you hang around with those two.’

‘They’re my mates,’ he mumbles.

‘Apparently so. But the fact remains, you have a lot more to lose. You have a brain, you could go on to have a good job, a good life. Why are you prepared to throw that away?’

‘We didn’t do anything.’

Freya notices that away from the other boys, Lee’s speech is more precise, his grammar better. We didn’t do anything, rather than we didn’t do nuffin’, which is what they got from the others.

‘What happened on Tuesday night, Lee?’ Freya asks again.

‘We were playing Xbox. Nothing happened.’