She paused. She didn’t have a towbar on her car. ‘Damn,’ she said. ‘I don’t. But maybe I can get one fitted at a garage?’

‘Don’t bother,’ the man said. ‘If you agree not to haggle, I’ll follow you back with it and drop it off for you.’

‘That’s OK,’ Alice said. ‘Really. I don’t want to be an inconvenience.’

‘No inconvenience. I don’t get out much these days. I’ll be glad to do it.’

DI Wynne

The call was from a foreign number. She didn’t know which country the code represented, but she had a good guess. There was only one country she had called recently.

Australia.

‘Detective Inspector Wynne,’ she said, glancing at the clock. It was just past 9.30 in the evening.

‘Hi, my name’s Tony Munro. I’m a detective in Perth, Western Australia.’

‘Tony,’ she said. ‘Jane Wynne.’

‘Nice to meet you. It’s not too late, is it?’

‘No. What time is it for you?’

‘Too bloody early. 5.30 a.m. But I thought you’d want to hear this as soon as possible, and I’m an early riser. Or a crap sleeper. Same difference.’

‘Thank you for calling so early,’ Wynne said. ‘I take it this is about the request I made?’

‘Yeah, about the serial killer. It came my way overnight. First thing I saw in my inbox this morning. Which is why I’m on the blower now. Thing is’ – he paused – ‘we had the same thing happen here in Perth.’

Wynne felt a surge of adrenaline, then a prickling feeling on her skin. It was often this way on a case. Nothing, no leads, no progress, and then something. ‘When?’

‘In 2012 and 2013. Six murders, four women, two guys, which is unusual all by itself. Then there’s the method. It’s a lot like yours – ambushed late at night, blow to the head with a large hammer, body abandoned. We had no letters and no crucifixes, but other than that – it all looks the same.’

‘Did you catch the perp?’

‘No. The last victim was murdered in May 2013, and then the killings stopped.’

‘Any suspects?’

‘None that mattered.’

‘And you think those murders might be linked to the ones I’m investigating?’

‘Hard to say,’ Munro said. ‘But it’s possible. Especially with that Australian accent.’

‘This is very helpful, Detective Munro,’ Wynne said. ‘Would you be able to share your files? Case notes? Photos?’

‘No worries.’ There was a sound like someone slurping a drink. Coffee, probably. ‘There was one other thing at the time. Probably unrelated, but it’s worth a mention.’

‘What was that?’

‘There was a family killed in late May of that year. Both parents were murdered in the house, and their daughter – she was in her early twenties – disappeared. We had her down as a suspect, but she never showed up again.’

‘How is this linked?’ Wynne said.