‘One hell of a strange house,’ Nehwal said, handing Lucy her car keys. ‘Looks as if Torgau completely refitted the cellar area, but … I mean …’ It was a rare occasion indeed when Priya Nehwal wrestled to find the adequate words. ‘We’ve got gym equipment in some of the rooms, torture devices in others. We’ve got medical texts detailing human anatomy, stockpiled CDs, which on first glimpse seem to comprise military training techniques … SAS, Navy Seals. On which subject, there’s a whole arsenal of illegal weapons. One room’s like a prison cell … I hate to see what we’ll find in there when we get the luminol out. There’s even a Tannoy system and video links connecting it all together.’

‘So the teacher could watch as they practised,’ Lucy said, half to herself. ‘And offer guidance.’

Nehwal regarded her carefully. ‘You say this lunatic had been training his two children to murder?’

‘To be Bill Pentecost’s personal murderers,’ Lucy replied tiredly. ‘And torturers. And believe me, ma’am, they’ve got the energy for it if not the skills. Which is why, until we snag them both, we’ve still got a major problem on our hands.’

‘Two nineteen-year-olds?’ The DSU sounded unconvinced.

‘You’ve every right to be doubtful, ma’am,’ Lucy said. ‘But it looked to me as if Martin Torgau taught them almost everything he knew. Or was in the process of that.’

Nehwal appraised the cosy-looking house. ‘Still waters running deep, eh? Whoever attacked the place … that was clearly a professional hit. You say you thought there were three of them?’

Lucy tightened inside. Because this was it. Whatever this moment brought, there was no way around it – and maybe no way forward afterwards.

‘I saw three, yes. And I think I recognised one of them.’

Nehwal looked slowly around. ‘You recognised one of them? Who was it?’

Lucy knuckled her eyes. In normal circumstances she’d be furious to find tears there. Hardened coppers didn’t cry, not in public. But this situation was beyond abnormal.

‘I know you’ve just been through an ordeal,’ Nehwal said, ‘but try and think clearly. If you can identify one of these killers …’

‘Ma’am, there’s something I have to tell you.’ Lucy swallowed bitter saliva. ‘It’s very serious.’

‘Okay.’

‘Two years ago, during the Jill the Ripper investigation, I discovered something. It’s very personal, but I have to tell you.’

Nehwal nodded slowly. After thirty-plus years as a cop at the sharp end, she knew when she was on the verge of something momentous. She tapped the bonnet of Lucy’s Jimny. ‘Get in the car. Tell me everything.’

Chapter 40

This was it. They’d reached critical mass. Lucy was simply fed up with the duplicity, with the lying, with the ongoing pretence, with her stomach knotting each time she played dumb about her father’s firm’s involvement in serious violent crime.