Thomas was a shadow of his former self. Ormond had watched as the man morphed into a two-dimensional caricature, his voice monosyllabic and his eyes dead. He’d seen enough victims of crime to know that the early days were life-changing, but you had to keep going. The boy, Jordan, had done a sterling job at the press conference, though offering a hundred thousand pounds for information on the Bradley case was ludicrous. He’d told him so, but Tom wouldn’t budge.

The murder of the street girl was something they saw all the time, and even expected. It wasn’t that he didn’t care; it was that Ella’s death was the more shocking because she was a decent woman, minding her own business, killed for a random bet: or that was how he understood initiation rites. He’d done his homework and DI Porter had confirmed it in so many words. Gangs all over the world initiated new members in similar ways and, recently, stabbings of strangers were on the increase. However, he now had to accept that there was no evidence yet that the killings were linked. His original plan had been derailed.

It made him sick to his stomach. And DI Porter was not doing enough. How dare she question him on such matters? Her ridiculous adherence to the churning of evidence was slowing them down. Of course it was necessary, but HOLMES was perfectly capable of keeping the case up to date. Human resources were better placed doing what a computer couldn’t: thinking. Ella had been murdered on Wednesday, and it was Friday already.

Porter had instinct. He knew that. But he got the feeling that she was going to present problems. He wanted to follow the case in a certain way, and yesterday had displayed her lack of imagination perfectly. She’d acted like a premenstrual teenager; he should know, he’d raised two.

He’d already looked into the promotion of young Will Phillips to DI, a move that would make DI Porter’s presence peripheral. Then she could be moved to a desk job somewhere to keep her quiet. But Phillips was still young; he needed a hero moment to make him stand out. Through his ex-colleague, Liam Brook, he also had strong ties to the community policing on the Beacon Estate. Some bonds, formed in youth, couldn’t be broken. Ormond was also considering secondment for Porter. She’d done a successful stint in London earlier in the year: he could send her back there, or even abroad. The EU was always asking for international representation on legal teams across the Continent. Even after Brexit, Interpol would always need the experience of good officers who’d proved their mettle. And he couldn’t deny that Porter had shown her worth.