A couple of hours later, the incident room was packed. Ava let Tripp handle the briefing then took questions.

‘Why are we assuming it’s the work of the Hawksmith–Shozo murderer?’ was the inevitable first line of questioning.

‘Because the latest victim’s doctor has just confirmed he received long-term treatment for depression, including several periods when he was considered to be an active suicide risk. We’re currently awaiting a breakdown of the resources Jon Moffat accessed and the date of his most recent contact with psychiatric services. Mr Moffat was badly burned in a fire in his parents’ barn in his early twenties.

‘He recovered physically after several surgeries, but it’s fair to say his life was changed forever. The resulting depression was something doctors foresaw, but his mental health deteriorated over a period of years when he found it difficult – impossible, in fact – to find a partner. Until now.’

‘No known enemies?’ DC Janet Monroe queried.

‘We haven’t had enough time to check that thoroughly, but the local landlady says he kept himself to himself, was popular enough when he went in there for a quiet beer,’ Tripp said. ‘His bank account was in credit. No mortgage on the farm. No red flags.’

‘What’s the deal with the feathers?’ someone else asked.

‘Might be a personal reference to do with the farmer himself,’ Ava suggested. ‘Or a progression, something in the killer’s psyche, maybe living out a fantasy. We’ll take another look at that once the ornithologist has identified the feathers for us. There were no other feathers found in the house or any of the barns, though, so it looks as though they were taken to the house deliberately. It’s highly deranged behaviour by someone who’s not bothered by getting up close and personal with another body, very much the same as in the previous cases.’

‘So we have to wait until we locate the witness who called in the crime to the landlady?’ Monroe asked.

‘That’s one line of enquiry,’ Ava replied.

‘What if the caller just happened to find the body but has no useful information about the murderer? At the rate these killings are happening we could easily have another victim by the time we locate the caller,’ Monroe said. ‘We have to draw the murderer – him or her – out.’

‘There was a bloody hand mark on the inside wall of the cupboard in he farmhouse and the size of it suggests the perpetrator was male. It was Moffat’s blood but the killer was wearing gloves so we don’t have any prints.’

‘Him, then,’ Monroe continued. ‘I said it before, but his behaviour’s escalating at an unprecedented rate. I think we should be more proactive.’

‘I’m listening,’ Ava said.