First, he talked his team through the visible injuries inflicted on Stuie, working from what he had witnessed himself at the crime scene, and from the preliminary thoughts of the pathologist. Next, he pointed at the photograph of Mickey Starr, making reference to his past history as a suspected drug dealer, arrested but then subsequently released on appeal due to a chain of evidence issue. Grace made it clear that although he had been acquitted by a clever brief, in the view of the police, back then, there was no doubting the man’s culpability. He then went on to the family tree and the association charts. Both were fairly threadbare.

‘The big question is why Stuie Starr was killed,’ he said. ‘It is possible that this was a random house burglary gone wrong. Whilst at the scene I noticed a jar that I believe may have contained a substantial sum in banknotes, and it appears a laptop is also missing. There were signs of a ransacking type search. But, despite these indications of a burglary, I think we need to look deeper. What reason would anyone have for harming a thirty-eight-year-old with Down’s Syndrome?’ Grace paused. ‘Pure sadistic pleasure – or some other, darker reason? I am looking at a connection to Glenn’s large drugs case. Particularly at Mickey Starr’s alleged co-conspirator, Terence Gready.

‘Let’s say Mickey Starr has enough evidence to completely kibosh Gready’s defence. Mickey Starr has already pleaded guilty to get a reduced sentence. If I was Terence Gready and – pure supposition – Mickey Starr was my wingman, I’d be worried about him making a deal with the prosecution.’

Potting frowned. ‘Good point.’

‘And . . . if I was Terence Gready on trial and facing incarceration for a good chunk of the rest of my life, I’d bust anyone’s balls to get off the charges. Whatever it took.’

Potting nodded. ‘If I’m reading you correctly, chief, you are suggesting that Stuie Starr might have been murdered on Terence Gready’s instructions?’

‘Exactly,’ Grace replied. ‘My primary hypothesis is this: could Terence Gready have become worried about his colleague, friend, right-hand man – Michael Starr – doing a plea bargain of some kind against him? Gready arranges to put the frighteners on Starr by having his brother roughed up a bit? And the thugs he hired went a bit too far? There is evidence of a burglary, but was that staged to throw us off the scent? I can’t see any other reason why a seemingly harmless man like Stuie should be so brutally attacked. Do you have any ideas?’

‘Except,’ EJ chipped in, ‘in our sick modern world, it could be someone or a group targeting Stuie because of who he is. There have been cases here where teens have targeted and attacked vulnerable people, usually with tragic consequences.’

‘What about a revenge attack?’ Jon Exton suggested. ‘And it was mistaken identity?’