‘Sorry, one moment, while it’s fresh in your mind,’ Ava said. ‘I’d like you to look at another clip. There was a suicide threat in the city yesterday. Police attended to secure the area and assist the emergency services, and a camera happened to catch this from general footage of the crowd.’

She pressed play. The camera panned across heads. Almost manic laughing erupted and a man yelled. A view of his head, face almost entirely obscured by his hood, came and went, slightly blurred, as he turned his back and began weaving through the bodies around him.

‘Take it back,’ Maclure said. ‘Let me see it again.’

Ava scrolled along the timeline.

‘You should know we’ve had an expert consider both voice patterns. She’s concluded it’s the same man.’

Maclure didn’t respond but pulled the laptop closer to himself, increasing the screen brightness as the clip began to play again. At the end, he sat back and crossed his arms, frowning.

‘If that’s our suspect, we’re going to have to get a much better picture than that before we release details to the public,’ Overbeck said. ‘Have the techies tried to enhance it or whatever they do in that little cave of theirs?’

‘You can’t enhance it. If we increase the size, it’ll just get blurrier,’ Ava said, wishing Overbeck would just leave her to it.

‘I don’t think you’ll need to,’ Maclure said softly. ‘God, I hope my office isn’t responsible for any of these deaths, but …’

Ava gave him time.

‘I have an idea who this is. I’m not definite, and I have no reason to believe he’s the sort of person who’d ever be violent, but there’s been a young man hanging around the drop-in centre recently who fits this description.’

‘Do you have a name?’ Ava asked.

‘I don’t, but I’ve seen him with one of our administrative assistants, the girl who does our filing and makes coffee for visitors if there’s a delay getting them in to see a counsellor. Her name’s Vicki Rosach.’

‘Does Vicki have access to the personal details of the people you help?’ Overbeck took over.

‘They’re all held in our files; although she’s instructed not to open the files or access the information. It’s in her contract.’ Maclure put his head in his hands. ‘I’m sorry, I was so certain this wouldn’t come back on us. We’re there to help people when they need it most. If we lose the public’s trust, people won’t feel able to come to us when they need us most. It’ll be devastating.’

Overbeck laid a manicured claw on Maclure’s forearm, squeezing gently.

‘You’re obviously doing a marvellous job. Please don’t blame yourself.’