‘I would, of course, be happy to do that, Superintendent Vickers, but I’m sure there will be questions, some discussion…Perhaps I could share my findings with one officer who could liaise?’ Vickers, who had only agreed to have the profiler in to silence critics and show the media they were doing everything possible, was delighted. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Get rid of the girl and shut the tweedy suited bugger up. ‘WPC Jones? You’ll do. Since you’ve already shown an interest in Dr Cornwell’s work and you’ve been dealing with the mother, you are to give him every possible assistance. That’s it. Meeting over, boys, back to work.’

Shit, shit, shit, thought Sam Jones, slamming her pen down on the desk as Vickers left. That was all she bloody needed. Inspector Davies clapped her back as he left the room and the other officers dispersed. ‘Serves you bloody right, lass, you can be too clever by half sometimes. You need to learn when to shut up just as you need to learn when to just make the bloody coffee.’ Davies smiled warmly at her as he said the words, and she knew that, overall, he was probably right.

The psychiatrist opened up his battered brown leather briefcase in the task-force room and placed his papers back into its depths. ‘You came well prepared,’ said Sam. ‘But why give in so easily? Why didn’t you stand your ground?’ She was actually wanting him to admit that he needed more cops than just her, but she was interested as to why he had just given in to Vickers as well.

‘I’m a psychiatrist,’ he smiled at her. ‘I treat the deluded. I would have been as mad as my patients if I’d tried to convert your fellow officers,’ said Cornwell.

‘What about me? Do you think you can turn me into a believer?’ she asked, still feeling that she had drawn the short straw with all of this profiling business.

‘I don’t know. Let’s see. What do you make of this?’

He handed her a report and she began reading.

‘Although two children are shown on the CCTV footage, the boy is the dominant player in this murder. This boy will have come from a home where violence and beatings are daily occurrences. In all likelihood, he will be the youngest of a large group of siblings. The pack mentality is such that the older children will be encouraged to beat and attack him.’