Another sigh. ‘Hold on.’

Carla heard metal drawers being opened, paper being rustled, before he came back on the line.

‘Gloria Benote. Banks with Lloyds.’

Shit. ‘OK, thank you, sir, that’s very helpful.’

‘And is that it?’

Carla had a thought. ‘Was Ms Benote renting any other property off you?’

‘Yes, she was.’ He sounded surprised, suddenly interested.

‘Can you let me have that address please?’ She took the pen lid off with her teeth and wrote down the details as he gave them. ‘Thank you, you’ve been really helpful.’

He hung up without a goodbye, but Carla barely noticed. The second property must be where Gloria lived with her kid while she used the flat for work. A bit like renting office space.

Bremer appeared at the door with two takeout coffees. He handed one to Carla and sat down next to her. ‘Have you spoken to Nell?’

‘Yeah, looks like Gloria was hiding O’Brian.’

Bremer stirred his latte with a wooden stick. ‘Nell wants to bring her in. Have we got an address?’

‘Just got it from the landlord.’

‘Right. Good work.’ He paused. ‘You know Eve’s the pathologist for the O’Brian murder?’

Carla didn’t. ‘Is that a problem?’

Bremer leaned back in his chair. ‘Not sure. But it doesn’t feel ideal.’

‘Because of the letter?’

He nodded. ‘I’m just wary of her being on the same case she’s been accused of tampering with. And I know,’ he continued, before she could speak, ‘it’s just a letter and there is nothing to link her to the case.’ He looked at Carla.

‘Nothing at all,’ she confirmed.

‘But I still think we’re treading a thin line.’ He took a sip of coffee and stirred it again. ‘You know her husband, right?’

‘Yeah, he was my first sergeant.’ She knew the next question so answered before it could be asked: ‘Straight down the line, not a dodgy bone in his body.’

‘Good.’

‘You want me to speak to him, don’t you?’ Carla wasn’t sure how she felt about that. It seemed a little underhand to use their friendship to get information on the case, but on the other hand, Eve had brought the letter to their attention, so it wasn’t a conflict of interest, not really.

‘It might be good to see what Gerry knows,’ Bremer replied, watching her reaction.

She smiled and picked up her notepad.

‘Sure. He’s on duty today so I’ll go and find him.’

Bremer looked pleased. ‘Good.’ Picking up his half-drunk coffee, he stood. ‘And then, when Nell gets in we’ll see where we are with O’Brian. We’re going to have to bring Gloria in, but I want to think of the best way to do it. Strikes me she’s going to be easily spooked.’

And Carla thought that was a pretty fair assumption to make.