‘Nadia,’ Alice said. ‘I think I know why you’re calling. There’s been another one.’

There was a long pause, then Detective Inspector Wynne’s voice came on the phone. ‘You’re on speaker,’ she said. ‘How do you know that?’

‘There’s another letter, too. It came this morning. It was in the kitchen.’

‘The kitchen?’ Wynne said.

‘Yes. And it’s quite graphic.’

‘How do you know?’ Wynne said. ‘Was it open?’

‘No,’ Tom shouted at the phone. ‘We opened it. It was addressed to us.’

There was a pause. ‘I understand, Mr Sark,’ Wynne said. ‘We need to see it. We’ll come over now.’

‘Who was the victim?’ Alice said.

‘Female, nineteen,’ Wynne said. ‘Janice Kettering. To be confirmed, but I’d say that’s her. She’d been working at a pub, last to leave. Just unlucky. Anyway, sit tight. We’re on our way.’

They arrived twenty minutes later. Alice handed Wynne the letter and watched as she read it.

‘It’s accurate,’ she said. ‘Ms Kettering died of a head wound.’ She handed the letter to Nadia. ‘There’s a lot in that letter. The part about being bored, then the stuff about it being too much about you. I can see how that would be annoying. And then there’s the mention of plans for you.’ She held Alice’s gaze. ‘That has to be a concern.’

‘It depends what the plans are,’ Alice said. ‘And I don’t intend to be intimidated by a criminal like this.’

‘Admirable,’ Wynne said. ‘But I think you need to be careful.’ She leaned forwards. ‘This was inside your house. That puts this whole situation on a different level.’

‘Exactly,’ Tom said. ‘This has gone too far.’

‘We can talk later,’ Alice said.

‘Nadia folded the letter and put it in an evidence bag. ‘We’ll need this,’ she said. ‘OK?’

‘No problem,’ Alice replied. ‘I already took a photo.’

DI Wynne

Wynne drove, with DS Alexander in the passenger seat.

‘What did you make of the letter?’ she said.

‘Twisted,’ DS Alexander replied. ‘Sick. All that stuff about the look in her eyes – it’s disgusting.’

‘Indeed it is,’ Wynne said. ‘But the letter seemed a bit forced to me. Like the emotions being described weren’t genuine. I didn’t get a sense of real relish.’

‘The murder was real enough,’ DS Alexander said.

There was something else, something Wynne’s mind had snagged on but she couldn’t quite bring into focus.

‘Read the letter to me,’ Wynne said. ‘There was something that didn’t seem right but I can’t put my finger on it. Hearing it out loud might help.’

‘OK,’ DS Alexander said. She took the letter from the evidence bag in gloved hands and began to read. Wynne listened, waiting for something to catch her attention.