There, it was out. He blamed her. He blamed her team. Her gut turned over and she felt abandoned in the cavern of the place she hated most of all: the damn hospital where her mother died and where The Teacher had played her almost to her own death.

‘I’ll call you later.’

Johnny hung up without saying goodbye. Kelly felt sick.

DS Kate Umshaw called her and it saved her from wallowing in any more self-pity. She took a deep breath.

‘Kate?’

‘Boss. We’ve had some news. The blood on Carla Rigg’s – I mean Daphne’s – clothes wasn’t hers. There’s no match. It was somebody else’s blood.’

‘OK. I’m sure whoever has been threatening her, and was responsible for the death of her parents, could have transferred blood from a victim.’

‘The blood samples from her parents have been submitted but they’ll take time. The lab did say that the blood on the clothes was from a close family member.’

‘I wonder if Daphne saw her parents killed, then. She may have been closer than we think. She’s been through so much.’

‘Also, guv. There was a laptop seized as part of the forensic search of Great Raven Farm.’

‘Really? That’s an unexpected result.’ The presence of a laptop in Kirk Junker’s residence was jarring: she didn’t think him the sort of person to bother with modern technology. ‘Has it been processed?’

‘Yes, guv, and it didn’t take long because there were no security measures applied to the machine. It was all there to trawl through on the desktop icons. The log history shows little use, but when it was used it was mainly to an IP address of another independent laptop or iPad.’

‘So, they communicated with somebody. Good job, Kate, well done. Do we know where the IP address is registered?’

‘Yes, guv.’

‘Well, come on then, I need to go and visit Jock Harris and see if he’s able to give a statement yet. What’s the problem? Something’s not right, I can hear it in your voice.’

‘It’s registered to Broadmoor, guv.’

Chapter 61

Kelly chatted with the ward sister in charge of caring for Jock Harris. A uniformed police officer guarded his room for his safety. The person who had threatened his life was still at large, and he was a key witness.

Kelly followed the nurse inside and Jock stirred. He looked pale and twenty years older than the last time she saw him.

‘Hi, Jock. How are you holding up?’

‘I’ve had better days.’