‘Sarah is your date lady?’

Jameson looked her way. ‘Yeah, she’s my date lady. You do have a way with words, Augusta.’

Bloom ignored his teasing and patted his hand as gently as she could. ‘I’ll let you rest.’

‘What’s happening with the case? With Jane?’

Bloom stood. ‘We have it all in hand, Marcus. Just you get yourself better.’

The train to Bristol took an hour and a half. Bloom sat in the quiet coach, on a table of four, beside a businessman annotating a printout of a PowerPoint presentation. She looked out of the window. Something wasn’t right. Her professional reputation was the most important thing in her life and Jameson’s physical fitness was a source of great pride to him. Both had come under attack in the space of twenty-four hours. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Jameson’s accident and her investigation must have been engineered. Psychopaths were incredibly adept when it came to identifying and playing on an opponent’s weaknesses. Bloom couldn’t help but think of Seraphine.

Two hours later, Bloom arrived at Bristol’s Central Police Station. They’d agreed to meet there instead of Portishead. She headed towards Chief Superintendent Barker’s office, where the team were assembled.

‘Sorry to hear about Mr Jameson,’ said Barker. ‘How is he?’

Bloom placed her coat on the back of the only spare chair and took her iPad and notes from her bag. ‘In quite a bad way, actually. He thinks he’ll be out in a few days, but I saw him this morning and I’m not so sure.’ She sat down and looked around at the team. ‘Quick question, before we begin. Has anyone else had bad news or a bad experience in the past day or so?’

The group looked at one other, shaking their heads and mumbling low ‘no’s.

‘Why do you ask?’ said DC Akhtar.

‘I had a call from my professional body yesterday. They said a serious complaint has been made against me.’

‘Are you thinking Jameson was targeted?’ asked DS Green.

‘Possibly. Whoever’s collecting these psychopaths is clever. I’d be surprised if they didn’t suspect they were being traced.’

‘You think they know it’s us?’ said Barker.

‘I’m not one for gut feelings, Steve, but I think we should all be on our guard, just in case.’

‘I might be able to help there,’ said DC Logan. ‘It turns out that as well as one hundred and nine players still active, there are a few who’ve returned home.’

‘And attacked their loved ones?’ Barker’s words were full of dread.

Logan shook his head. ‘No. I’ve had one person contact me to say their father received one of these cards, disappeared for a bit, and then just came back.’

‘What? Really?’ said DS Green. ‘As if nothing had happened?’

‘Yep,’ said Logan.

Everyone looked at Bloom.