I wasn’t one to confide in people–and this woman was a stranger, even if she did remember me as a little girl. But she was also a link to my past, she’d known my mother; she even reminded me of her, and so I was tempted. I kept thinking of that child, Matthew, and his mum, too. The parallels between my mother and Donna Cook were obvious. Both of them had only children whom they adored, and both of them had been willing to do all they could to get them out of poverty Neither woman had been prepared to accept the fate that should have been reserved for their babies–but what Matthew’s fate had truly been was beyond anything I could relate to. Donna would have fought for him had he lived–I felt that from what I had read, and the experts in the reports seemed to agree. What would he have been? What would he have achieved? Ina couldn’t say anything to stop images of that poor child rushing through my head, so I kept chopping while she washed, thanking God that Mary McLennan had been there for me.

Chapter Forty-Six

The next morning I was still in shock. I grunted rather than spoke to Lois and Eddie on the way into my office; once there I slammed the door and slumped with my head in my hands. I was curious that I hadn’t heard anything further about my client, when the other call I had been expecting all night came in.

‘Brodie? Duncan Bancho here. The girl we found last night? She was an air hostess. Kelly Adams. Your client’s late girlfriend, bit on the side, as it happens.’

‘I take it you’ve confirmed that,’ I said, knowing it was a useless question.

‘Didn’t have to. We already had photographs of them together. Very together.’

When people say things can only get better, I know for a fact they get worse. This was proof. I was now so far behind in the developments of this case that I didn’t know which end was up. ‘And how did you come by these photographs?’

‘I’ll fill you in when you get here,’ he said. ‘I’m just ringing to tell you we’ve just charged him with four counts of murder…the Cupid murders, as the wags round here are calling them, so named because the bastard takes their hearts. Won’t be long before the papers pick up on that–we can only keep it quiet for so long; we’re going on goodwill more than anything. And, in case you’re interested, we still haven’t found DI Jones.’ He hung up.

‘Sorry to interrupt…’ Eddie popped his head round the door of my office, ‘but there’s a Mrs Marshall in reception. She says you’re representing her husband. Will I show her in?’ he asked.