Styles stopped short of continuing his usual brand of sarcastic comebacks, perhaps sensing the seriousness of yesterday still hanging over them. ‘Share the joy; what have you found?’

Porter spun his monitor around and Styles gave a low whistle.

‘Friends in high places, I see,’ he said, walking around to his desk and taking a seat opposite Porter.

Porter shrugged. ‘Doesn’t change anything, but we could do without the complication. OK, I figure the day pans out like this. Rebecca Arnold is due in at King’s Cross at noon. See how far you can get digging into Locke’s financials. We’ve only really looked at him in connection with Barclay so far rather than in his own right. After speaking to Alec Brookes, I wonder how kosher Locke’s non-drug-related business practices are. If he was strong-arming Barclay in any way, then we run that down in relation to Natasha. Did he just threaten Barclay, or did he extend that to his family as well?’

‘What about Bolton?’ asked Styles. ‘Do we speak to him again? Might turn up the heat a little more?’

Porter shook his head. ‘You saw what he was like yesterday. If we haul him in again straight away, he’ll sit there looking smug and not say a bloody word. Let’s see what we get back from the crime scene report first. Might make our job easy if he left prints all over, but no sense rushing it like we did yesterday. He’ll keep.’

‘Any word from the hospital on how she’s doing?’

‘Not yet. I’ll give them a call now, then I’ll give you a hand with the financials. It’s about time you showed me how you decipher that stuff.’

Styles grunted an acknowledgement and started pecking away at his keyboard while Porter picked up the phone. The ward sister he spoke to sounded weary. He guessed she was coming off the night shift rather than being the cavalry relieving those that had worked through since yesterday. She told him Simmons was still stable and was due a further assessment at ten o’clock. There was no sign of her waking up, but he hadn’t expected that just yet. He extracted a promise of a call if anything changed, and let her get back to the dozens of patients more deserving of her attention.