All four turned at the same time as Porter and Styles approached the door and knocked. Porter saw Campbell beckon him in with a wave of his hand. Anderson’s mouth was half-open as if paused mid-sentence as they turned to face the two detectives.

‘Sorry, sir, I thought we’d arranged our briefing for five,’ said Porter, opting for tact over terseness. The latter wouldn’t win him any brownie points with his superiors, so he kept any animosity towards Anderson in check for his own sake. ‘My apologies, we were out following up a few leads.’

‘Our briefing is at five, Detective, but we do need to speak to you now, as it happens,’ said Milburn. ‘Something has come up today that involves you, both of you. Please, take a seat.’

Porter had never worked directly with or for Roger Milburn, but he knew him by reputation. Word was that he ran a tight ship, and didn’t tolerate anyone who didn’t give absolute loyalty to him and the team. Milburn reminded Porter of a politician more than a police officer. His smile, when it broke free, reminded Porter of a shark, all teeth on show but without any real warmth in the rest of the face. He looked at Anderson and Whittaker, searching their faces for any clue of what it might be about, but found none.

They sat opposite the other two detectives, with the senior officers at the head of the table. He glanced again at Anderson and Whittaker, but they didn’t meet his eye.

‘Would you like us to go first, sir? I can give a quick update on where we’re at?’

A flash of pearly white from Milburn. ‘We’ll get to that shortly, Detective. First of all, why don’t you tell us why you deliberately disobeyed a direct order from a commanding officer.’

There was no cordiality in his tone or his words. Porter’s head swam with possibilities, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Campbell jumped in before the first word could escape his mouth.

‘What we would like to know, Detective Porter, is why, after I specifically instructed you to leave Mr Locke out of the picture, you visited his house this morning?’ His tone was softer than that of his peer, but still with an unmistakable frosty edge.

His question took Porter by surprise. He knew he was playing fast and loose with the rules by visiting Mrs Locke this morning, but they hadn’t told anyone where they were going, and had only left her a little over five hours ago. How the hell had it gotten back to Campbell so fast? He didn’t have time to consider the routes the information might have taken before Campbell became impatient and paraphrased his own question.

‘Well, Detectives, what were you doing at Mr Locke’s house this morning?’