He studied her. There was no way she would have done anything to Jo. ‘I do,’ he said. ‘Really, I do.’

‘I hope so. But that still leaves the bruise. Did anyone else see her in the days before you noticed the bruise?’

‘Only my parents. We went there for dinner. Roland was there, but I didn’t see him.’

‘Roland?’ Martha said. ‘Who’s that?’

‘My brother. He lives with Mum and Dad.’

‘I didn’t know you had a brother.’

‘It’s a long story,’ Tom said. ‘For another day.’

‘And he didn’t see her? You’re sure?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘There is another thing to watch for,’ Martha said. ‘If nothing specific happened, it’s possible she bruises easily. I don’t know what that means, medically, but I have heard it can happen to some kids.’ She leaned forward. ‘But whatever it is – something or nothing – I had nothing to do with it. I would never harm Jo,’ she said. ‘I promise you that. I would never harm a hair on her head.’

Alice

The room was only half full, but it was much busier than at any time since before the pandemic. The vast majority of the journalists present wore masks; plenty of others were taking part virtually. Alice was pretty sure that it would be some time before the days of everyone attending in person returned, in part because of a lingering fear of catching something, and in part because it was cheaper and more convenient to attend by video.

She preferred to be there in person. She found it almost impossible to work at home. Even when Joanna was asleep she had half an ear – and half her attention – on whether Joanna was starting to wake up, or was actually awake or just making some noises in her sleep. And if she was awake there was no way she could work at all.

The room fell silent as three people took their seats at the table. Alice recognized Detective Superintendent Marie Ryan in the middle. To her left was a woman with short dark hair; to her right was a man. Alice recognized neither of them.

‘Thank you for being here,’ Ryan began. ‘As you know there was a body found the evening of Thursday, July 15th. That body has since been identified as Mr Stan Davidson. Mr Davidson was twenty-three. We are treating this as a murder inquiry, but not’ – there was a long pause – ‘as a standalone murder. I’ll hand it over to Detective Inspector Wynne to give more details.’

There was a noticeable tightening of the tension in the room. If it was not a standalone murder that meant only one thing: the police thought they had a serial killer on their hands. Although there had been plenty of speculation that might be the case, to have it confirmed – or to think it was about to be confirmed – was still a significant moment.