Anton watched his efforts and lit up a cigarette. He inhaled deeply. ‘OK, spill.’ ‘You going to give up the fags, too?’ He exhaled a plume of smoke in Caleb’s face. ‘You going to stop avoiding questions?’ Impressive that he could sign and smoke at the same time. Not too many people could achieve that level of dickishness.

‘What was Hobbs like?’ he asked. ‘I didn’t know him.’ Like pulling teeth. Big, stone teeth from an Easter Island head. ‘What was his service record like?’ ‘Exemplary.’ Tedesco drank his coffee and waited silently for the next question. Frankie squinted at him. ‘You’re a chatty bastard, aren’t you?’ A glint in Tedesco’s eye. ‘That hasn’t been

‘Because I’ve reviewed the interview tapes from last night and I don’t think you quite got everything, did you, Caleb? Don’t get me wrong, you did well. Really well. But maybe we should get an interpreter in here now, make sure you can keep up?’ His pale eyebrows lifted. It was just an interview technique, the three Ds: distract, disarm, dismay. He

A layer of grey scum had formed across the soup. He should eat it: not eating was the first sign. Then not sleeping, then not functioning. If you were lucky, it ended with a friend helping you start again in a tiny apartment with pink walls and striped orange furniture.