Chloe glanced at the clock. It was 4.40, and most of the team had now headed home, but there was no chance of her leaving the station while she still had so much to do. Lunch had consisted of a shared bag of chips and a carton of curry sauce. She and Dan had tried to lessen the guilt of the indulgence by sharing, although the rumble of Chloe’s stomach was now making her wish she’d eaten a bag to herself.

She had worked through the list methodically, checking each name against records on both South Wales Police’s Niche database and the Police National Computer, and running parallel internet searches in case any of them threw up anything of interest. She had so far searched for 212 of the 603 names provided by the DVLA, and though she realised that working through the entire list that evening would be an impossible task that would leave her useless for anything the following day, she didn’t feel done just yet.

So far, a few of the names had come up on the PNC and she had listed them separately, along with the nature of their offences. She’d check later with Dan to see whether Leah’s laptop showed any communication with any of them. She sipped her coffee, trying not to think about how many she had already consumed that day. She considered the possibility that her eagerness to continue in her task might have been fuelled as much by a caffeine rush as by anything else.

She typed the next name into the Niche database. It threw up an immediate match. She leaned forward, studying the details on the screen, then clicked back to the opened internet page and typed the name into the bar of the search engine. The results showed information on employment status: where the man worked. As she scrolled down, it became apparent that he had more than one job.

She put her coffee on the desk and clicked on one of the links: University lecturer questioned over allegations of sexual harassment.

It was a brief news article on the website of a local Rhondda newspaper, dated about twenty months earlier. Chloe scrolled through, absorbing the details of its contents.

She clicked back to return to the search list, then accessed Leighton Matthews’ profile on the university’s website. There was a photograph of him, stern-faced, younger-looking; she presumed the image had been taken when he had first joined the department. His profile gave his credentials: BA in English Studies from Leicester University; MA from the University of Cardiff. He had started working at the university there after the completion of his master’s degree – having previously worked as a teacher in a sixth-form college – before moving to the University of South Wales. According to the profile, he was also a published author. Two book covers were shown beneath his photograph, each bearing his name.

Chloe opened another internet page and accessed Amazon UK’s website. She typed Leighton Matthews into the books search bar and found the two novels. His debut had received 316 reviews, with an average rating of 3.5 stars; his second book had just 81 reviews, with an average rating of 3.

She minimised the web page and sipped her coffee, wincing at its bitterness. Dan had already left; he’d mentioned something about taking one of his kids to a gymnastics class, although much of what he’d said on his way out had managed to go straight past Chloe. She had been so engrossed in her task that he could have admitted to having been behind the wheel of the car that had hit Leah Cross and she would have missed it.

Returning to the university’s website profile of Leighton Matthews, she sat back and stared at his photograph once again. Then she glanced at the clock and realised little more could realistically be done that evening. She needed to speak with Alex. Leah Cross was studying English at the University of South Wales, and a car belonging to one of the members of that department had been flagged up as matching the description and partial plate number provided by the eyewitness who’d seen the hit-and-run. In addition, this lecturer had previously been interviewed by police over an allegation of sexual harassment made by a former student at the university …

Perhaps there was no need to look into any of the other driver details, for the time being at least.