Matt delivered the sparse updates about the Bethnal Green murders that had come in overnight, and then they headed to the morning briefing. It was conducted in a vast incident room, and was attended by around thirty officers, with pads, screens, phones and radios at the ready. Kelly knew she wouldn’t be anywhere near boots on the ground in this investigation, but it was still invigorating watching the uniforms, DCs and DSs go about their business and report real-time, sometimes in the form of live CCTV or tracking computer software. Matt was at the helm and would remain in his ivory tower commanding the troops. For Emma, it was an incredible opportunity to learn from the best.

‘DI Porter and DC Hide are familiar with the area of Derwent, and I’m going to hand you over to them now,’ he said. ‘We’re lucky to have them with us and I want everyone to give them absolute cooperation as long as they’re here.’ He sat commandingly on the edge of a table and an officer tapped notes next to him. Kelly looked around and met a sea of eyes, all on her. She spoke from where she sat.

She’d been assigned her own lap-top computer, which she referred to along with the maps on the whiteboard and the slides she’d hastily constructed in her hotel room the night before. It was a struggle to concentrate with Matt’s eyes boring into her. She couldn’t work out if he was willing her on or willing her to trip up. Their relationship had been kept secretive, and, to her knowledge, no one in the room knew about it. A sudden flashback to him naked jumped into her head and she closed her eyes, willing it to leave. She wondered if he still slept with a knife in his bedside cabinet. In London, detectives received death threats all the time. They put a lot of people behind bars, and criminals who’d already crossed the line wanted to punish those responsible for getting them caught. All killers thought they were clever and believed they’d get away with it, but in reality few did.