‘Crucified?’ he asked, disbelief in his voice. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Oh, I’m sure. And it didn’t stop there. He also had his balls cut off and stuffed into his mouth. And he was cut up all over. Deep cuts that bled him out, like a slaughtered animal.’

Sarah could hardly believe what she was hearing. She had seen enough in her career that she was hardened to most horrors. To rapes. To murders.

But not this. This is a new one on me.

The details left her with questions.

‘Do the police think it’s a religious thing? Because of the crucifixion, I mean?’

‘That’s their lead theory, yes. Probably Islamic extremists if you ask me.’

‘Where was the body found?’ Sarah asked.

‘In his own home. In Southwold. Seems he was murdered in his living room.’

‘Was there anyone else in the house?’

‘You mean apart from whoever crucified him?’

‘Don’t be clever, Alex.’ Elton interrupted the exchange between his reporters. ‘Just answer the question.’

Redwood did as instructed.

‘No, Sarah, there wasn’t anyone else,’ he answered, the sarcasm gone. ‘The victim lived alone. Retired.’

‘Was there anything else on the scene to suggest the same thing? Messages? Videos?’

Sarah’s instincts were kicking in. Something did not feel right.

‘Not according to my source,’ Redwood replied, his tone beginning to betray impatience. ‘But the crucifixion alone seems to speak for itself, doesn’t it?’

‘Maybe,’ Sarah said, grasping the issue that had been floating in her mind from Redwood’s answers. ‘But it’s a big change of approach. Extremism is usually a spectacle. Either a shocking amount of deaths, or shocking deaths done very publicly. This is one man, killed in private.’

‘So what are you saying?’

‘Just that we shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions,’ Sarah replied. ‘And that we should be reporting this carefully. We should be keeping any suggestion of religious extremism out of the story, at least until the police are more certain.’

Redwood opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by Elton raising his hand and shaking his head.

‘Agreed,’ said Elton. He looked directly at Redwood. ‘This needs to be reported responsibly. We don’t want to be accused of stirring up some sort of anti-Islam campaign, especially if this turns out to be something else entirely.’

Elton turned to Sarah.

‘Do you want to take this one?’

Sarah looked at Redwood. She was tempted by Elton’s offer. Not because she particularly wanted the story; no, it would just be for the pleasure of seeing Redwood lose it.

It’d be no more or less than the unscrupulous bastard deserves, Sarah thought. After all, there’s no way he came by these details ethically.

‘No,’ Sarah finally answered. Her own ethics had won out. ‘It’s Alex’s story. Besides, I don’t have the close contacts Alex has in Suffolk Police. They probably wouldn’t be so keen to cooperate with me.’

Redwood showed no gratitude for Sarah’s generosity. Just anger that she had been offered the story at all. He did not need to speak for Sarah to read him.