Hannah frowned. ‘How was she killed?’

‘Initial signs suggest strangulation,’ Thomas said.

‘Any sign of sexual assault?’ Hannah said.

Jenny touched her head. ‘Hannah.’

‘What?’

Thomas shook his head. ‘No evidence of rape.’

‘So what now?’ Dorothy said, voice calm.

Thomas waved a hand around the table. ‘We formally interview the people you’ve already spoken to.’

‘What about forensics?’ Hannah said.

‘There’s a team on the scene collecting evidence. Once they’re finished there, they’ll need to go through Melanie’s room in your flat. We’ll ask all our suspects for swabs, look for a match. Not just for crime-scene evidence, there’s something else.’176

Hannah felt a thrum in her fingers as if the Earth was trying to send her a message.

Thomas looked around the table then lowered his eyes.

‘Melanie was pregnant.’

Hannah was turning the key in the lock when her phone rang. She bundled through the door, Indy following behind, and looked at the screen. Vic, shit. She stared at it for a long time then pressed answer as Indy disappeared into the kitchen.

‘Have you heard?’ Vic said. His voice was on the edge.

‘I’m so sorry, Vic.’

‘I can’t believe it.’

‘I know.’

A long gap. ‘She had a baby.’ Vic was crying now. ‘Mum and Dad, my God, I don’t know how they’ll cope.’

‘I’m so sorry.’ Hannah could only think to keep saying the same thing over and over until the end of time.

‘I need to find who did this,’ Vic said. ‘Do you understand me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do the police know anything?’

‘They’re following leads.’

‘What does that mean?’

Hannah looked at the door to Mel’s room. She ran her finger along the wood. ‘We spoke to some people and passed our information on.’

‘Tell me.’

‘You can’t just bully them,’ Hannah said. She thought about the slap she gave Peter’s wife. ‘You need to let the police handle it.’

‘Is that what you did when you were investigating?’

‘It’s different.’ For the life of her, she couldn’t think how it was different.177

Vic sighed, composing himself. ‘What about the second phone, did you find it?’

Hannah pushed open Mel’s bedroom door, the same layout of furniture, all her things still sitting where she left them. ‘No, I never did.’

‘That’s the key,’ Vic said.

‘I don’t know.’

Vic was in tears again, his voice a ragged mess.

‘Just find out,’ he said, sobbing. ‘Please find out who killed my sister.’

Hannah stared at Mel’s bed, her desk and wardrobe.

‘I will,’ she said.

She hung up and stood in Mel’s doorway. Then she heard something coming from the kitchen. Crying.

She went through and Indy was standing at the sink with the kettle in her hand and the tap running, her shoulders shaking. She wiped at her cheeks with the back of her other hand and breathed deeply.

‘Indy.’