They were physical opposites as well, Gabriel tall and reedy, Heath short and stocky. Both sported the unmistakable tan associated with working outdoors. Both were parentless with negligible contact to any remaining siblings; through choice in Heath’s case, through death in Gabriel’s. Chandler didn’t have enough to favour either as a main suspect so both had to be. And if both were, then there was the possibility that they had been working as a partnership until another, as yet undefined, event caused them to break ranks. Was that why they were so scared of each other? Because each knew what the other was capable of?

The shack also bothered him. The evidence found so far pointed to it being the place where the murders took place, or at least where the victims were kept chained, but how had it caught fire? An accident? The sun’s rays magnified on to a stack of paper? Maybe when they were in pursuit of each other a gas heater had been knocked over and turned the shack into an inferno. But why would there be a need for a gas heater to be on in this heat? That left the theory that the killer had purposely set the fire. Possibly an incendiary device set by timer to go off if he/they didn’t return by a certain time? And if so, when? Heath – in the time between Gabriel entering the station and being led in at the end of Ken’s shotgun? Or Gabriel – after sneaking out of the hotel and trekking back up the Hill to destroy the evidence? But how could Gabriel make it there? And why return and give himself up at the station? Why not set it ablaze and then run?

The gaps in time and motive were frying Chandler’s already addled brain but it wasn’t about to let him stop. A final thought nudged its way in. What if they weren’t working with each other but had a third partner helping them with their crimes?

That opened up a whole new avenue. Chandler needed something to narrow the possibilities down. He’d always preferred working within set parameters. That was why he’d stayed in Wilbrook. The town and his kids were like his sun, their gravitational pull meaning that he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, stray too far from them.

Though it was 3am, one of his suns wandered into the kitchen. Sarah, in her nightgown, poked her head in the fridge without spotting him. She was growing fast, almost the same height as her mother already, with the same high cheekbones and narrow face. Those she could have as long as she didn’t inherit her mother’s disposition.