‘For forensic examination. Julie got a similar display and one was left at Coney Road. All had weird messages.’

‘And?’ He shrugged, lifted the knife and started cutting again.

I wanted to scream at him to stop. How could he not see how serious this was?

‘They can’t rule out a link between the flowers and Clare’s murder. They can’t rule out, yet, that her killer sent them – that he might have some grudge against us, too.’

He put the knife down, looked straight at me as if waiting for a punchline. ‘Are you actually serious?’ he said.

‘Of course I’m serious!’ I snapped. ‘I’d hardly joke about something like this, would I? The police are putting on extra patrols. They’ve given me a direct line to the incident room in case anything happens.’

He visibly blanched. ‘Why would anyone have anything against you three? Come on,’ he said with a hollow laugh.

He was trying to lighten the mood, detract from the fear he was feeling, but it just angered me more.

‘I don’t bloody know!’ I said. ‘I wish I did. No, I wish none of this was happening, but it is. And I’m scared. Julie’s barely holding it together. Ronan’s like a broken man – it’s devastating. We don’t know what to do.’

‘When did you see Ronan?’ he asked as if that was the most important part of what I’d just told him.

‘I drove up Coney Road and he was at the site of Clare’s death. That’s where I saw the flowers that had been left there.’

‘Did he ask you to meet him there?’

‘Of course not. He just happened to be there. He’d taken his parents up. But that’s not important, Paul. It’s important that we do what we have to, to make sure we’re all safe, the girls in particular.’

He shook his head. ‘I’ve no idea why you’d want to put yourself through going up there, Rachel. It’s like you’re revelling in the horror of it.’

He lifted the knife and started chopping again. I wanted to snatch it from his hand.