‘We’re obliged to pursue all leads. I’m following procedures, and nothing more.’

Megan’s entire body was trembling uncontrollably as she wiped a tear from her left cheek. ‘Isn’t it strange that you never mentioned arresting me when you shook my hand not so very long ago. You looked me in the eye and assured me then that you’d do all you could to save my daughter, whatever the danger she faced. And I believed you. I actually believed you.’

Kesey resisted the impulse to look away. ‘I said I’d find Lottie and I will.’

Megan gripped the sides of her seat, fearing the mounting stress may cause her to pass out and fall to the floor. ‘Well, in that case, I strongly suggest you get on with it. If something happens to Lottie, something awful, something that’s too terrible even to contemplate, I’m going to hold you personally responsible. I’ll sue this incompetent joke of a police force for every penny it’s got.’

Kesey found her mind wandering to the wellbeing of her own child, as she rose to her feet, keen to get out of there at the earliest opportunity. ‘Thank you for your time, Ms Weller. I appreciate you answering my questions.’

Megan looked across at her incredulously. ‘So, now you’re happy? Are you pleased with yourself, Inspector? All this is hard enough to deal with without the very people who are supposed to be helping me making things infinitely worse.’

This time Kesey did look away, averting her eyes to the wall. ‘Switch the tape off, Ray. I’ve heard enough. This interview is at an end.’

22

Heath was experiencing a heady mix of expectation and nervousness, as he hurried along the narrow, tree-lined path at the rear of Megan’s home, and running past the adjoining properties towards the nearby park. He checked to the right and left, searching for non-existent witnesses with quick darting eyes for a full thirty seconds, before scrambling up and over the six-foot-high wall, which separated the stone-strewn path from Megan’s back garden. Heath rushed across the overgrown lawn, his pack on his back, unable to believe his luck when a sleek, jet-black tomcat crossed his path, the same, diamond-bright eyed feline creature he’d seen when entering the house only days before. He took the sighting as a positive sign. A sign that both Lady Luck and destiny were on his side and cheering him on. All of a sudden, his nerves had gone.

Heath’s confidence was soaring as he approached the back of the house. He wasn’t expecting to find a partially open window this time. But he’d planned accordingly. He took a steel claw hammer and six-inch masonry nail from his backpack before slowly approaching the double-glazed door. He briefly considered attempting to enter that way, but then decided to break the same window through which he previously entered, simply because it amused him to do so. He was keen to give both Megan and the police the clear message that a closed window was no obstacle to him, because of his almost infinite predatory powers. A closed window didn’t keep Megan safe. Nothing kept her safe. She was in terrible danger, potentially fatal danger. And he wanted her to know it. He could do whatever the hell he wanted to and nobody could stop him. He thought it and believed it.