Hamlet tilted his head. ‘I’m not sure. I think it’s smoke, yes, but I’m not able to say from what. Not cigarettes. Possibly a bonfire.’

‘It probably got on her clothes at the encampment. OK, Daniel, thanks again. I’d better get back.’

Hamlet nodded. ‘Well, I’ll be seeing you.’ He caught hold of Patrick’s arm and looked him in the eye. ‘Please catch him.’

As Patrick walked back to his car, he tried to work it out in his head. If not a paedophile, then who? What was the motive? Had Isabel been targeted specifically because of who she was? Had the killer done it to get at her parents, to cause them the greatest pain possible? And if so, did that mean that the targets in all three cases were the parents?

Perhaps it was the families they should be looking at. Maybe it was there, in some connection between the sets of parents, that they would find the motive – and the killer.

He turned the key in the ignition and drove slowly out of the car park, heading back to the station. Isabel Hartley had been killed very soon after she was taken. If he, Patrick, was one of the parents of the other two kids, Liam and Frankie, that fact would ram a shard of fear into his heart. Because the likelihood was, the two other children were already dead. Their bodies were out there somewhere, waiting to be found.

He prayed he was wrong.

The kitten won’t stop meowing and its piss is leaking through the bottom of the cardboard box. But I’m sure she is going to love it. All little girls love kittens.

She’s been very quiet since she’s been here. Barely spoken at all. When she’s not knocked out or locked away for her safety, she mostly cries. I want to see her real self, and I reckon the kitten will help. It was a stroke of luck, finding it. I was chucking away some rubbish and when I lifted the lid of the wheelie bin, there they were – three little kittens. Of course, I didn’t want three so I left the other two where they were and grabbed this one. It’s a tabby, and its head appears to be slightly too large and heavy; it flops like a newborn human baby’s.

I picked up a paper while I was out too. So they’ve found Izzy’s body. I wondered how long it would take them. It said in the paper that the police were looking at forensic evidence and that a number of people are helping them with their enquiries.

Poor Isabel. Shame she had to die. She was a great help to me. Little Liam too. I hope they don’t find him too quickly.