‘We should send a car over to Ickleton to see if anything has been left at the scene there.’

‘I’ll leave that to you. Get Hale onto it.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Palmer closed the door to the office and walked purposefully over to his desk, summoning Elly with a wave of his hand as he did so. ‘Send a car over to New Barn to check the scene for anything that might have been left there, please. I’m going to request Shane Matlock comes in and talks to us. You can sit in on the interview.’

Palmer was being much more formal with Elly than usual. It unnerved her. ‘Will do.’

‘Oh, and they’ve apprehended Andrew Wade in France.’ Palmer sat typing at his desk without looking up.

‘Well that’s good news.’ Elly ran some lip balm over her mouth, using her finger to apply it. ‘Once he’s been questioned then we can concentrate on finding the person responsible.’

Palmer said nothing in response so, with a sigh, Elly left to go arrange for officers to search the crime scene in Ickleton.

He stopped typing and sat back in his chair, watching Elly walk away. Because of the method the killer had used on Dennis and Wendy, Palmer knew the person responsible was not only smart but also extremely dangerous. And now they were playing games. This gave the police a glimmer of light. When a psychopath started showing off they often got sloppy. Palmer found himself praying that the murderer would slip up sooner rather than later and hoped there would be no more deaths in the meantime.

Half an hour later, after a phone call with Shane Matlock, Barrett approached Palmer.

‘They are putting Andrew Wade on the next flight back to Stansted,’ Barrett informed him. ‘We’ll be there to greet him when he lands tomorrow morning.’

‘Shane Matlock has agreed to come in and talk to us. He will be here in an hour.’ Palmer looked at the clock on the wall seeing that it was already nearly six o’clock in the evening.

‘Good. Time for something to eat then,’ Barrett suggested realising he hadn’t had any lunch.

‘Fancy a kebab from Mill Road?’

‘Yes. Let’s do that.’ Barrett went into his office to retrieve his coat before returning to Palmer’s desk. ‘Let’s go.’

Palmer stood up and wrapped a bright red scarf, which had been a present from his son, around his neck.

The two men stepped out of the station and into the cold stillness. Above them the naked tree branches were heavy with snow and the moon shone low in the sky like a beacon.

‘Do you have any plans on Christmas day?’ Palmer asked, knowing full well that it was possible they would be spending it at the station investigating the murders.

‘My sister invited me to stay but I can’t stand her husband, so I refused the invitation.’