As she listened, Kate put a cup of coffee on her desk. She’d warmed up but hadn’t really thawed out in her bones. A fresh box of tissues sat on the table and she used two or three to blow her nose.

‘It’s well done, and very effective. The friction burns on her skin are oblique and above the thyroid, indicative of a full hanging, which is incredibly hard to manufacture. Her skin is displaced and heaped in part and she’s already been to radiology, who’ve confirmed that she had hyoid damage but her cervical, cricoid and thyroid cartilage are intact. She died from a violent transverse tear to her carotid artery caused by the rupturing of her sternocleidomastoid muscle. It was suicide, Kelly, I’m pretty sure.’

‘Hmmm,’ she said. She almost laughed out loud as she caught herself doing exactly what irritated her about Andrew Harris.

‘You okay?’ Ted asked.

‘Yes. Thank you. I’ll pick you up in about fifteen minutes,’ she said, and rang off. She yawned loudly and Kate threw her the look of a concerned parent.

‘Any news on Chloe and Sasha?’ Kelly asked her.

‘They’re denying involvement in any wrongdoing,’ Kate said.

‘What about the videos?’ Kelly asked.

‘They’re saying it was a laugh, and they weren’t coerced,’ Kate said.

‘Jesus, so it’ll be the CPS prosecuting without their supporting testimony,’ Kelly said. ‘I hope they have better luck with some of the other victims they’ve identified from the school. Maybe after some supportive intervention, they might begin to realise that what they’ve been through is a crime.’

‘Or it might take the rest of their lives,’ Kate said.

‘At the moment, they’re holding on to the idea that they were paid well for their efforts. It’s chilling.’

‘I think it’s time you went home,’ Kate said.

‘Do we know how Lord Reilly is doing?’ Kelly asked, putting on her still wet coat.

‘He took a turn for the worse,’ Kate said.

Chapter 61

The room was dark and only the flashes of blue and red from the monitors cast an eerie shadow on the hospital bed.