‘—but you still don’t have any idea where Rhiannon is, do you?’

‘The teams we are working with, here and abroad, are examining the possible routes she might have taken—’

‘—you had her in the palm of your hand, but didn’t connect the dots?’

‘She had a non-consistent MO. She’d killed various different people in different ways. It’s hard to track someone like this—’

‘—but you still didn’t charge her with anything? And not long after you interviewed her under caution, suspecting her of some involvement with Lana Rowntree’s death, she skipped the country on a false passport.’

‘Yes, she did but—’

‘—there’ve been sightings of her in Rome, Barcelona, Thailand and the Caribbean. It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, isn’t it?’ Majors licked his upper lip, about ready to drop the mic.

Géricault barely raised an eyebrow. ‘There have been a lot of false sightings. This strange and disturbing fandom is growing up alongside the Rhiannon Lewis case where some people, I should stress, are doing everything in their power to keep her at large. And they seem to think they are doing some kind of public service in hindering our work.’

Majors’ left eyebrow rises. ‘Why is that, do you think?’

‘They think they love her,’ said Géricault. ‘They think they know her.’

‘And what would you say to those people?’

‘I would ask them to remember that this woman is a dangerous predator, capable of killing anyone who gets in her way.’

Majors ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek again, like he was trying to winkle out a stubborn bit of biscuit. ‘She’s making a fool of you, isn’t she? She’s got the public on-side and she’s giving you the run-around.’

‘Some people have ideas about Rhiannon Lewis being a sort of saviour of children and animals but this is simply not true—’

‘—but she does admit in her confession that she has a special predilection for sex offenders and paedophiles, doesn’t she?’

‘Yes, but I must stress that she has also killed innocents. Julia Kidner, mother-of-three – kidnapped, held for three months, raped post-mortem to plant DNA and stabbed multiple times. Daniel Wells was mutilated and drowned. Dean Bishopston, father-of-three, stabbed to death. Lana Rowntree was drugged and groomed into taking her own life. AJ Thompson, 19, father of her child, was burned, stabbed and dismembered. I mean… need I go on? This is not a woman to be put on a pedestal, this is someone to be feared.’

Guy flicked a glance at the monitor. ‘What do you say to this – tonight’s poll shows 92 per cent of our viewers think she should be left in peace.’