She stands at the doorway and shakes Jackie Morris’s hand. ‘You’ve been a great help. Thank you, Jackie.’

Jackie takes out the tissue from her pocket again and wipes her eyes. ‘Elaine had such a tough life because of Frank and her parents cutting her off. She was such a good person and deserved so much better. I hope you find whoever did this.’

‘I will do everything in my power, I promise.’

Over Jackie’s shoulder Archer sees Poppy sitting on the stairs, with a long strand of wool hanging from her hands.

‘Are you going to find the man who killed Jordan’s mum?’ she asks.

‘I will try,’ replies Archer.

Poppy disappears back upstairs.

Archer steps out into the grey morning and looks up at the stark sky. She hears a tapping sound from the bedroom window. Looking down at her is Poppy. Beside her is her identical sister and the sleepover friend. They have removed their tops and wrapped strands of dark wool around their arms. Their hands are pressed together in prayer.

Archer goes cold.

She takes out her phone and calls Quinn, who picks up after three rings. She tells him about the meeting with Jackie and concludes with, ‘We need to ramp up the search for Frank and Jordan Kelly. Both are missing. Finding them is a priority.’

Finishing the call, she turns and makes her way back to the train station with the grim realisation that the killer has them all in the palm of his hand.

Chapter 33

33

IN HIS DREAM JORDAN IS screaming at her over and over again.

‘Don’t go in there, Mum! He’s waiting. Please don’t go in!’

But she doesn’t hear him and carries on walking with a smile on her face.

Like a monster emerging from the shadows the man wraps his arms around her and moments later she falls to the ground.

Jordan jerks from his nightmare and screams until his voice cracks, then he sobs until there are no more tears. His neck hurts from where he has been lying so he pushes himself up to a seated position. His mouth is sticky and his throat is sore from shouting for help.

He badly needs to pee and crawls across to the bucket which is almost full. He retches at the stench and covers his nose with the crook of his elbow to stop from being sick. Climbing to his knees, he leans against the wall and pees there instead.