‘Suspect allowing officer to approach person. He’s … turning around … has offered wrists. And he’s cuffed. Stand down, lads. Good job.’

Knowles gripped the inspector’s shoulder.

‘Thank God, hey?’

Tom nodded, feeling bewildered.

What the hell had just happened? Just over an hour had passed since Carney had pulled his stunt. Then Healy turns up and the man walks out of the house and offers himself up for arrest in minutes? Tom had thought they were on course for a siege of some sort.

This wasn’t right. Something was very off about the whole scenario.

CHAPTER 24

Tom and Ray stayed behind at the scene with a team of uniforms as Vincent Carney was taken to headquarters. Laura and Michael would conduct an initial interview to see if he was willing to talk, while his house and land were searched.

The inspector felt his pulse quicken as they walked towards the house – both from the lingering memory of being shot at and the possibility that they might find Fiona Holland there.

‘There are a lot of outhouses,’ Ray said. ‘Plenty of places to hide somebody.’

Tom murmured agreement. He prayed they’d find Fiona alive. She’d disappeared less than two weeks ago and they’d speculated about the possibility of the killer keeping his victims alive for a period of months. But everything felt wrong about this situation. Why had Carney given himself up? What had he done in the intervening period between shooting at them and Healy’s arrival?

Hopefully, he hadn’t been tidying up loose ends.

They split up to conduct the search. Tom and Ray took the main house. They ripped up all the downstairs carpets, but found nothing. The only space inside the house to hide somebody was the attic, and that was empty bar old cardboard boxes and bin bags stuffed with clothes.

The house was clean and tidy inside, if old-fashioned. The curtains, flooring and furnishings all dated to the seventies.

They found a stash of pornography in what appeared to be Carney’s bedroom.

‘It’s pretty normal stuff,’ Ray said, flicking through the magazine he was holding. ‘He’s a boobs man. Nothing hardcore.’

The inspector walked to the next room. The prospect of finding Fiona here was diminishing with each passing moment. He opened the second bedroom door and froze.

A cold chill crept down his back as he took in the sight before him.

‘How long ago did Charlie Lane say Carney’s folks had died?’ he called out to Ray.

‘Ten years.’ His deputy appeared behind him.

Tom walked into the room to give him a better view.

‘Jesus Christ,’ Ray whispered. ‘Looks like we’ve stumbled into the Bates Motel.’

To the unsuspecting visitor, the room would have seemed perfectly normal.

Only those who knew how long Carney’s parents were dead would find it disturbing.