Kelly allowed the news to sink in. She hung up and hunted for the letters from the Bagshot postcode in Surrey. Finding the latest, she was thankful that she hadn’t torn it up, like she’d wanted to. It was possible they were now evidence, and when she found what she was looking for, she knew that she’d have to officially get Demi on board. She re-read the words that had been playing through her mind.

Did you find the missing girl from the stone circle? I doubt it. One can’t find something that burrows away from the light. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you happened upon her by chance; it was all planned. She’ll appear again soon, but blink and you might miss her. But hurry, because time is running out. When the day meets the night, and darkness descends across the land, and the Moon Goddess returns to slumber, then only the spirits rule until balance returns.

Sloppy slaying in Braithwaite. Amateur. I love animals. That part really made me sick.

There it was in black and white: the Moon Goddess. It was no accident. The Teacher had worked it out before all of them. But how was that possible? Unless Amy had known all along, and even been party to it. There was one thing that didn’t make sense but now began to worry her: the reference to the girl found naked at Castlerigg. It implied that she was somehow involved. She realised, with dread, that she might already be too late. If the girl was something to do with their killer, then the chances were that she was already dead.

She grabbed her coat and bag, and went to the incident room. ‘Midday. Briefing in here. Everyone to attend. I’m going out. Emma, I want all the information on the element symbolism. Rob, has the artist been contacted?’

He nodded.

‘Good, get him over to the O’Reillys right now, I’ll get the necessary diversion of resources to satisfy HQ – don’t worry about that. Prepare to present on Kirk Junker. Kate and Will? What are you working on?’

‘Witness statements from Braithwaite,’ replied DS Kate Umshaw.

‘Tyre tracks from behind Mary’s house,’ replied DS Will Phillips. ‘Everything all right, guv?’ he asked.

‘I can’t explain now, let’s just say that I think I might be getting the advice of an occult specialist on this one. The ritual aspect seems to be panning out. I’ll flesh it out at midday.’

Will whistled and exchanged glances with his colleagues. Hocus pocus theorising was often bandied about during weird murder scene investigations, but they were rarely taken seriously. None of them had worked on one before.

Kelly went to her car and entered the SatNav details for Fred O’Reilly’s house.

Chapter 34

As she drove, Kelly put Demi Cramer on speaker phone.

‘I knew it!’ Demi said.

‘What?’