‘We put out a routine request for any female misper reports. A bloke phoned in this afternoon. Control passed the details on to us. I don’t know if it’s owt to do with us, but it’s a funiosity, as my gran used to say. His name’s Rob Morrison and he’s Director of Operations at Tellit Communications’ Bradfield office.’

‘Tellit?’ Gareth Taylor’s workplace. Anything unusual connected to Tellit set the alarms flashing on Paula’s radar.

‘You know, the mobile phone and data network company? Apparently they started a new Director of Marketing this week, a woman called Marie Mather. She didn’t turn in for work this morning but one of the staff took a call from her husband saying she’d been rushed to hospital with a suspected burst appendix. This Morrison guy decided to send flowers, so he rang Bradfield Cross to find out what ward she was on. And they’ve never heard of her. He tried the cottage hospital and they said the same. Her mobile’s turned off, there’s no answer to her home phone and the number he has for her husband goes straight to voicemail.’ Cody scratched his head with the end of his pen then stuck it in his mouth like a cigar.

‘She might be skiving off. Having a fun day out with her old man,’ Paula said, not believing it for a moment.

‘She might, except that she’s just started this important new job. “Strategic”, your man Morrison called it. And here’s the thing. She’s thirty-one, blonde, blue eyes, medium height and build and a professional woman. She fits our victim profile to a T.’

Paula felt a buzz of adrenalin surging through her. ‘Which would mean that the suspect we have in custody isn’t the killer.’ She couldn’t help smiling at that realisation.

Cody made a face. ‘Not necessarily. I called this Morrison bloke. She left work about an hour before Hill checked in here. If he’s keeping them before he kills them, he could have stashed her before he walked in here.’ His turn to smile. ‘That’s the kind of brass neck a proper serial killer would have, isn’t it?’

‘Only in a film,’ Paula said repressively. ‘Have you told Fielding about this yet?’

He shook his head. ‘It’s not long in.’