‘Now,’ he said, ‘I’m glad to see so many of you here and I’ve no doubt we’ll end up being supplemented by guards from around the county and beyond when we establish the victims’ identities and origins. The workload for this investigation will be immense, so let your loved ones know the summer holidays are over.

‘Folks, what we’re dealing with is something we all hoped we’d never encounter. We’ve five victims and the only conclusion we can draw is that a serial killer is operating in Ireland. Maybe even killers, plural. Pathology has brought in specialists from London and the crime scene unit is also consulting with international experts. We have the State’s leading criminal psychologist, Linda McCarn, with us today, and she’ll give us some guidance on the sort of individual or individuals we might be dealing with. I’ll be referring to the murderer as he, but in reality we don’t yet know the gender or the number of perpetrators.

‘Now, we’ve a lot to get through and it’s hot as hell, so I’m going to bring you up to speed on pathology’s findings so far and then I want us to start talking crime scene, IDs and suspects.’

When Tom had finished updating the room on Moya’s work, Michael raised his hand.

‘Boss, are we working under the assumption he’s taken Fiona Holland? Her parents are in a right state. They’ve turned up at their local station looking to know if we’ve found their daughter’s body.’

‘We haven’t,’ Tom answered. ‘Make sure the family liaison officer is with them. As to whether our killer has her or not, I do not want anybody to mention outside this room the possibility of her being the latest victim. The media will make its own assumptions but we’re not speculating for the sake of their headlines. Let’s be conscious of her family. However, amongst ourselves, we must consider that he might have her. Everything about her disappearance is alarmingly similar to Una Dolan’s last year, bar the time of day.

‘And considering it appears that this man keeps his victims for a period before killing them, there is the further possibility that she might still be alive. I’ll go see the Hollands myself and discuss her missing persons case with our colleagues in Meath. Now, back to potential IDs. Laura?’

The detective sergeant stood up beside the list of names on the board.