‘Mm, it wasn’t exactly hard to miss,’ said Porter. ‘He’s not your usual poster boy for the drug trade, but I get the feeling he doesn’t suffer fools. He may be the man who has everything, but it doesn’t exactly strike me as a house filled with love and happiness.’

‘That’s my mum’s favourite cliché – money can’t buy happiness. I keep telling her that she might well be right, but if I had the cash at least I could buy plenty of stuff to keep me amused until happiness comes along,’ said Styles.

Porter chuckled and pulled away, occasionally glancing at the gate of the Locke house in his rear-view mirror until it was out of sight.

‘You going to Anderson’s leaving do later?’ Styles asked.

‘Yeah, I’ll show my face for a few,’ said Porter with a sigh. ‘Are we sure he’s actually going to leave this time?’

‘He bloody well better. This is the second time I’ve chipped in for his leaving present. He’s not getting a penny more out of me if he changes his mind again.’

Porter dropped Styles off outside a new Italian bistro where he was meeting Emma, near Angel Tube Station. He almost gave in to Styles’s prodding to join them for dinner, but wriggled out of it by saying he was popping by to see his mum on the way home and didn’t want to turn up at hers too late.

Once he had the car to himself, Porter cast his mind back to what he’d witnessed at Locke’s house. He had seen countless different relationships from all walks of life in his time on the force. Tragedy could bring people together, reforge bonds that had been broken and give people the stage on which to showcase the strength of the human spirit. On the flip side, it shone a bright light into the dark corners, and stripped away the veneer to show some people for what they truly were.

What he had seen in the living room had not fitted neatly into any of those usual boxes. Mary Locke’s reactions had seemed somewhat muted for a person who had just been told that their long-lost family member was at best seriously injured, with the inference being that in the worst case she had died from her injuries. He supposed that the passing of time and the far from strong relationship she’d described with Natasha could account for that, but he decided to shelve that train of thought for now and move on to Alexander Locke.