‘I think you’ll need to talk to your lawyer again.’

Tanya Hopkins looked puzzled when Frieda arrived for their Thursday morning meeting with a middle-aged man in a suit and dismayed when she introduced him as Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Karlsson.

‘I don’t understand,’ said Hopkins.

‘I’m here as a friend,’ said Karlsson. ‘To give advice.’

‘I thought that was my job.’

‘It’s not a competition.’

Hopkins was clearly dubious. ‘If DCI Hussein knew that a colleague was attending a meeting with a suspect and her lawyer …’

‘This is my day off. I’m simply meeting a friend.’

Hopkins turned to Frieda, who had walked over to the window and was staring out. Hopkins’s office overlooked the canal basin in Islington. Children in bright yellow life jackets were paddling in two canoes.

‘Are you involved in the investigation in any way?’ Hopkins asked.

‘No.’

‘Have you had any privileged access?’

‘No.’

‘I’m Frieda’s lawyer, not yours. If I were yours, I’d drag you out of this room by the scruff of your neck.’

‘So I’ve been warned.’

The three of them sat down on chairs around a low glass coffee table. Hopkins opened a pad of paper. She took out a pen and removed the cap. ‘We have been instructed to report to Altham police station tomorrow at ten. It’s all but certain that they’ll charge you with Alexander Holland’s murder.’

She looked around as if she were expecting a response but there was none. Karlsson was staring at the floor. Frieda seemed to be thinking hard but she didn’t speak.

‘You’ll be granted bail,’ said Hopkins. ‘But you’ll have to surrender your passport. There’ll be certain conditions attached, but they shouldn’t be a problem. So, now we need to think of our strategy.’

‘Our strategy?’ said Frieda.

‘I’ve got a barrister in mind. Jennifer Sidney would be a perfect fit.’

‘She did the Somersham trial,’ said Karlsson, with a grim smile.

‘Is there something funny?’ asked Frieda.

‘Not exactly funny. But if she can get Andrew Somersham off, she can get anyone off.’

‘It was the right verdict,’ said Hopkins. ‘On the evidence.’

‘That’s one way of putting it.’

‘Well, we want the right verdict as well.’

‘Why have a lawyer at all?’ said Frieda.

‘What?’

‘If I’m charged …’

‘You’re going to be charged.’

‘All right, when I’m charged, I would just like to go into court and tell my story, truthfully, and then they choose to believe me or not believe me.’

Hopkins laid her pen down softly. Karlsson saw that she had gone quite pale. ‘Frieda,’ she said quietly. ‘This isn’t a time for grandstanding or giving a philosophy lecture. This is an adversarial system. The Crown has to make a case against you. All you have to do is to rebut the specific accusations they make. You don’t have to prove that you’re innocent, you don’t have to win a prize for virtue. You have to not be definitely guilty. That’s the way the system works.’

Frieda started to speak but Hopkins held up her hand. ‘Stop,’ she said. ‘So far, I’ve had to stand by while you’ve sabotaged your own case. If you want to carry on doing that, you can get yourself another lawyer or no lawyer at all. But, first, hear me out.’

Frieda nodded her acquiescence and Hopkins continued: ‘The basic strategy is obvious. It all comes down to the wallet. There’s a whole lot of other prejudicial evidence – or so-called evidence – but they can’t use it. Just so long as you stay disciplined.’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘You mustn’t mention your Dean Reeve theory.’

‘Why?’

‘If you even mention his name, they can bring up everything. Your involvement in the death of Beth Kersey, the death of Ewan Shaw, the arson attack on Hal Bradshaw’s house, your various arrests for assault.’

‘And?’

‘And?’ said Hopkins. ‘It’s my belief that if those incidents are put before a jury you are overwhelmingly likely to be convicted and you will spend the next fifteen to twenty years in prison. But, as I said, there is no reason for them to be introduced. No, it all comes down to the wallet. Now, isn’t it possible that the last time you met Mr Holland, he left his wallet by mistake?’

‘No,’ said Frieda.

There was a pause.

‘Frieda,’ said Karlsson. ‘I’m not sure if you quite appreciate how serious this is.’

‘They found the wallet hidden in a drawer,’ said Frieda. ‘If Sandy could have left it there – with his cash and credit cards removed – I would have said.’

‘I was never happy about that search. Did they warn you of your rights before asking you about the wallet?’

‘No.’

‘Excellent.’

‘Sandy didn’t leave it there,’ said Frieda. ‘He hasn’t been there for a year. A year and a half. All the cards in it were current.’

There was another silence. A longer one. Karlsson and Hopkins exchanged glances. When Karlsson spoke, he sounded tentative, almost scared.

‘There’s an obvious question, Frieda. But I’m not sure I want to ask it.’

‘Careful,’ said Hopkins.

‘As I said, I don’t know how it got there.’ Frieda turned her eyes on the two of them. ‘Though I can guess.’

‘Please,’ said Tanya Hopkins, sharply. ‘Let’s concentrate on what we know rather than follow your theories. That last time you met Sandy. That row at the clinic. He drops the wallet, you pick it up. You take it home, meaning to give it back to him.’

Frieda shook her head. ‘I’m not going to tell you something that simply isn’t true.’

Hopkins frowned. She looked discontented. ‘It’s not possible that there was a later meeting between you that you haven’t told us about?’

‘No.’

‘You meant you did meet him or you didn’t?’

‘I didn’t. The last time I saw him was on that Tuesday, outside the Warehouse.’

‘What I haven’t enjoyed about this case is that I keep discovering things you haven’t told me and they’re always bad things.’

‘You talked about strategies,’ said Frieda. ‘What other ones are there?’

‘If you’re reluctant to mount a defence, I suspect we could offer to plead guilty to manslaughter. I’ve got some psychologists who could come and testify on your behalf.’

Karlsson glanced nervously at Frieda. For the first time she looked genuinely startled. ‘What would they say?’ she asked.

Hopkins picked up her pen and tapped it thoughtfully on the table top.

‘You’re a victim of rape,’ she said. ‘You were the object of an attack that almost killed you. And there are witnesses that Holland made violent threats against you.’

‘They weren’t threats …’

‘I think I can virtually guarantee that you would receive a suspended sentence.’

‘So all I have to do is to confess to murdering Sandy,’ said Frieda. ‘And I get away with it.’

‘It’s not getting away with it,’ said Hopkins. ‘You’ll be on licence for the rest of your life. You’ll have a serious criminal conviction. But it may be better than the alternative.’

‘You make it sound tempting,’ said Frieda.

‘I’m just trying to lay out your options.’

Frieda looked at Karlsson, who was shifting uncomfortably in his chair. ‘What do you think?’

‘I’ve asked around,’ he said. ‘Hussein’s good. She’s clever and she’s thorough. She’s built a strong case. I want to warn you, I’ve seen this strategy from the other side. You challenge this bit of evidence, that bit of procedure, bit by bit, you get it all thrown out.’ He turned towards Hopkins. ‘You’ve probably thought of claiming that the police planted the wallet.’

‘I’ve thought about it,’ said Hopkins.

‘Careful,’ said Karlsson. ‘It’s the nuclear option. You don’t know whose case it’ll blow up.’

‘They didn’t plant it,’ said Frieda.

‘Were you there when they found it?’ said Hopkins.

‘Not in the exact room.’

‘Really? That might work. If the worst comes to the worst.’