Nell couldn’t remember if she’d told her she was a cop or trotted out the usual line, ‘I’m in finance,’ so she just said, ‘Just the usual, you?’

‘Well, as I’m mid-thesis I imagine I’ll be in the Bodleian Library attempting to write, but instead, I’ll probably be staring onto the quad thinking of you.’

Nell had to admit she delivered it well; the light tone suggested a joke, but the eyes said it could be serious if Nell wanted it to be. Which she didn’t. Nell rolled over and picked up her phone.

‘You fancy meeting up after work?’ The light tone came now with a tinge of hope. Nell screwed her face up and checked her messages. One from DCI Bremer. Got a new case. Dead body. No rush.

Nell frowned. How could a dead body not be urgent? She threw off the covers and grabbed her bra and jeans.

‘I’ve got to go, sorry.’ She picked up her biker boots and tried to ignore the look of disappointment on Matilda’s face. ‘Help yourself to anything in the kitchen.’ She hesitated, then leant over and kissed the woman on the cheek. ‘Leave your number, OK? And I’ll call.’

Matilda smiled up at her and relaxed back onto the bed, pulling the duvet down just a little, to show Nell what she was missing. ‘You sure you can’t stay for longer?’

‘Don’t tempt me.’ She grinned, and kissed her again, even though the truth was she wasn’t tempted at all.

Nell put her phone on speaker, pulled the car onto Jericho’s high street, then dialled Bremer.

‘DCI Bremer speaking.’

‘It’s Nell. How the hell can a dead body not be urgent?’

‘And good morning to you too, Sergeant. Looks like a cut-and-dried suicide, but still needs a look.’

Nell felt nauseous. She needed that Coke. ‘OK, well I’m twenty minutes away. Carla there yet?’

‘She is, which is why we have the case.’ He sounded irritated, annoyed even, and Nell didn’t feel up to asking why.