Barry starts to open his mouth, probably to deny everything all over again, but then something gives. Tyler sees it in the way his shoulders drop. The boy leans his head in his hands and lets out a long sigh.

“I don’t know who he is,” he says. “But if you let me have my phone I can show you.”

Tyler looks at Doggett, and they both smile.

—

“How on earth did you put that together?” Doggett is staring at the computer screen in front of them.

Tyler shrugs. “I didn’t, Rabbani did. There was a word circled in her notebook. The last thing she’d written in it. ‘Akela.’ I didn’t make the connection until you mentioned Cub Scouts. Then I remembered. The leaders all take the names of characters from The Jungle Book. My old Cub Scout leader was Baloo. He was a right little bastard, about as far from a bear as you could possibly imagine.”

“So Rabbani had been looking into Felbridge and discovered he used to lead the Cub Scouts at the hut. That’s why she went there? To question him? What the fuck was she thinking? Stupid girl! Why didn’t she just tell us?”

“No news yet then?”

Doggett shakes his head.

They stare at the screen together in silence.

“So what the fuck is this?” Doggett asks.

“It’s a blog.”

“I know it’s a fucking blog, I meant . . . I mean . . . well, I don’t know what I mean.”

Tyler glances over the entries again. “This is him. This is the killer. The fire watcher.”

They read the screen in silence for a while and then Doggett says, “This explains Fireman Sam’s statistical spike. Looks like Barry isn’t the only copycat out there.”

“We need to tell Enfield about this. If they can shut it down, it will help stop people copying.”

“Hang on, let’s not be too hasty,” Doggett says. “This might be our only chance to catch the bastard. If we shut the thing down, won’t that just tip him the wink that we’re on to him? Can’t we just . . . trace it?” He asks hesitantly, as though he’s unsure whether it might be a stupid question.

“We should be able to trace the IP address. But I don’t know how long that would take. In the meantime someone could get hurt.”

“Well, let’s find out at least.”

Tyler thinks about it for a moment. “I know someone who works in IT. Hang on a minute.” He pulls out his mobile and finds Sally-Ann’s number. While he’s waiting for her to answer, he says, “So what have you done with poor old Barry?”

Doggett grins. “I read him the riot act a bit, but to be honest my heart wasn’t in it. He’ll probably catch far worse when he gets back to the butcher. And we’ll pass his details on to your fireman friend, just in case he decides to start lighting bonfires again. I almost feel sorry for the lad.”