A call from Ted interrupted her. He’d breathed down the necks of a lab in Carlisle for the best part of twelve hours and they had the results from the en suite bathroom at Allerdale House. The pattern of smudges and smearing, along with the protein analysis of the specimens, was consistent with somebody being killed inside the shower unit. Kelly had her crime scene, though they’d have to wait for workable DNA to prove that the person who died in there was George.

However, it blew any previous motives out of the park. If George had been killed inside the house, and nothing had been stolen, that only left one conclusion: that the scientist had been deliberately targeted.

Chapter 11

Kelly spent the drive to London studying the report from the double homicide in the garage in Bethnal Green. She’d walked home with fish and chips through that alleyway – a shortcut between Bethnal Green Road and Old Ford Road – more times than she cared to remember. It was ten minutes from her old flat. The landscape was one of high-rises and car parks, as well as rented garages. She looked at the photographs of George Murphy’s two colleagues. It would appear that Emily Wilson and Mike Hudson had been pursuing some kind of torrid affair, and had been caught in flagrante.

Kelly didn’t like coincidences.

Emma was the perfect travel companion. She assessed documents and data, and didn’t make small talk. The driver was silent throughout, apart from to ask if either detective wanted to stop for a comfort break. The answer was negative; they wanted to get to London as soon as possible to meet the SIO in charge of the double murder. And they wanted to find out what George had been like in life.

Darkness descended as they sped through the Midlands and around Birmingham via the M6 toll. The mountains of the Lake District were a lingering memory; housing estates, high-rises and choked roads replaced the clear air of lakes and rivers. Kelly felt slightly claustrophobic, but Emma was entranced. As they approached the outskirts of London, thousands of lights bounced off the windows from cars, cafés, shops, phones, aeroplanes and trains. They were surrounded by neon and noise, assaulting them in a wave of electrical pulses. Kelly closed her laptop, as well as her eyes.

She was back.