She set up her excuse first. ‘Of course I try to see Mattie on her own as much as I can. I think he really has a hold over her.’

‘But you must have gained some idea?’ Jenny frowned. Her frown always gave the impression that she was a little disappointed in the staff member seated in front of her, that they hadn’t quite reached her exacting standards.

‘He’s charismatic.’ The words had come out of Connie’s mouth without her truly realizing the implication of them. But once out, she knew it was true. She’d only met the man twice and couldn’t describe him – couldn’t, for instance, have made up one of those Identikit pictures the police showed on Crime-watch – but she had a sense of him. A man who knew what he wanted and thought he would get it. A man who would command attention in whatever company he chose to appear.

‘In what way?’ The frown had disappeared and Connie now saw she had Jenny’s complete attention.

Connie shook her head, frustrated that she couldn’t quite find the right words. ‘It’s how he looks at you. Compelling. And it makes you think you’d tell him everything he wanted to know. Like a priest almost, at confession.’ Connie had been brought up a Catholic, had rejected all that as soon as she could think for herself of course, but was still haunted by its power.

‘What made a man like that take up with Mattie?’ They’d discussed this before, but Jenny had seemed suddenly more focused on the man than ever before. ‘He’s obviously educated, and as you say he has a certain attraction. A control issue, do you think? He wants a woman who will be subservient to him.’

‘Maybe.’

And Jenny had leaned forward. ‘I think I should see him. I’m not questioning your competence, not at all, but he could be dangerous, not just to Mattie and Elias, but to other young inadequate women and their children. I’d like to make my own assessment.’

Occasionally Jenny had done this: she’d dipped into one of her team’s cases to satisfy herself. The control freak in her, the team had decided, not liking it, because inevitably she came up with something they’d missed, but admiring her thoroughness.

Now, in the dark cottage, with the river running outside the window, Connie tried to remember what the outcome of that decision had been. Had Jenny arranged a meeting with Morgan?