Inside the circle, there were five main points, with spirit at the top, and that’s what turned a pentagram into a pentacle. She kicked herself for not having a paper map on her, but who carried paper maps around? She called Eden House and managed to catch someone on duty at the front desk not dealing with drunks or emergency procedure. They confirmed that a paper map of the Lake District would be waiting for her first thing in the morning, on her desk.

She googled the pentacle and an image of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man stared back at her. But it was a link underneath that sparked her brain to waken fully, despite the darkness and the hour. The perfectly proportioned man, drawn by Da Vinci in 1490, was encircled by a flawless pentagram. The top of the five-pointed star was above his head, the two arms denoted the right and left points and the outspread legs the bottom two; in all, a geometrically pristine pentagram.

It was Demi who’d told her that Jack the Ripper’s five victims were found in a pentagram across the East End of London. Now she looked at the map and the shape of Da Vinci’s model. She’d seen it a thousand times at the beginning of World in Action on Granada TV, and the evocative theme tune played on the organ jumped into her head. She tried once more to get a map up on her iPad that she could use to impose a five-pointed star. Braithwaite and Thirlmere could be two points and she drew with her finger to see if she could make the other three. It could work, but she’d have to get Rob to do it on a computer properly to find out for sure.

It was with renewed energy that she pulled into Penrith station.

Chapter 45

By the time she arrived at Johnny’s, the place was in darkness, apart from a tiny light near the kitchen. She was sure they’d both be asleep. She felt sorry for Josie, having to give the details of her whereabouts and every movement to her father, but Kelly knew that it was vital for his peace of mind. She guessed she’d be the same with a daughter, or son.

The vast majority of the Cumbrian population slept soundly, blissfully unaware of the double murder investigation ongoing under their noses. Homicide was reported in the local press, and occasionally it created panic and uneasiness. Sometimes it made the national news, depending on what was trending in the capital lately. The bizarre nature of Mary’s death had caused such a buzz in Braithwaite and beyond to Keswick, but outside the small towns, it had died down. Until the killing of the journalist. In her absence, her team had made excellent progress on piecing together the final movements of the young woman.