Sam turned her head back to watch DI Davies through the glass, who was addressing the boy. ‘We don’t need a confession, Kevin.’ He leaned over and took a sip from the boy’s juice. ‘We’ve got everything we need to put you away forever.’

Kate clearly didn’t like the way he was turning nasty on her boy. ‘What’ve you got then, smart arse? Show us what you’ve got.’ She took a cigarette out of her packet and put it in her mouth. ‘My Kevin wouldn’t hurt a fly. He’s a good boy. He bought a rose for that kid. You’ve got nothing on my boy he’d do nothing anyway.’ She had a cruel expression as she spoke, and Sam didn’t have to stretch her imagination too far to imagine where Kevin had inherited his tendencies.

‘So you want to know what your little scumbag of a son has done? Fair enough.’ The inspector pointed at Kevin. Sam wondered if he was going to punch the boy but Davies banged his fist off the table and those in the front row of the viewing room took an involuntary step back. They had all been on the receiving end of the inspector’s wrath at some point; most of them made sure the experience wasn’t repeated.