Archer reaches for the milk and drops an extra slosh into the mug. ‘It’s fine now.’

*

The incident room reminds Archer of a broad glass lean-to that has been hastily bolted onto the corner of the third floor. The inside is sparse and functional and comprises a conference table, a widescreen TV monitor and two large portable whiteboards.

Archer hears voices outside the incident room and sees four people from the office bantering with Hicks. The team Mark Beattie assembled, she assumes. Her eyes focus on Hicks. His hair is strawberry blond and wiry, his skin pale with acne scars on both cheeks and he seems to have grown a paunch since she last saw him. He looks her way, with a half-smile. The others stop talking and follow his gaze.

Archer feels her stomach churning and breaks eye contact.

Two of the team enter the incident room and introduce themselves.

‘DS Joely Tozer,’ says the first, a stocky blonde woman with an open, warm smile, ‘and this is DC Os Pike. Just call him Pikey. He prefers that.’

‘Oi! I hate that name,’ replies a young black officer, carrying a laptop. ‘Ma’am,’ he says and sits at the table.

‘Hello.’

Hicks loiters outside the incident room allowing his remaining companions to go ahead of him. The first is a tall, thickset man with a shaven head and a woman with short bobbed hair and a waspish face who introduces herself as DC Marian Phillips. Hicks enters with a detached expression. He leans against the wall in a corner.

The last to arrive is a thin woman with shiny jet-black hair cut severely short and finished with a feathered fringe. Her skin is like ivory, her lips a deep red, her cheekbones like daggers. She walks to the top of the incident room, raptor eyes fixed on Archer. She folds her arms and addresses the room.

‘DI Archer, an update please,’ asks DCI Pierce, with no time for polite introductions.

Archer recounts their findings and doesn’t skimp on the detail.

Os raises his hand. ‘Ma’am, I have an ID on one of the other victims. His name is Stan Buxton. He’s homeless, like Billy Perrin.’

‘Very good, Os,’ says Pierce. ‘Let’s work on the assumption the third victim has the same background. Check if there is a connection between the men. We may have a killer, or killers, targeting the homeless.’

Archer speaks. ‘The killers, whether they are one or more, have promised more will follow. We should assume this means more victims.’

Pierce adds, ‘Find out if any more homeless have been reported missing. We’ll need a court order to have the videos and pictures of the victims taken down from the Internet.’ She looks to the woman with the bobbed hair. ‘Marian, please take care of that. Can you also look into the council records and see if an application was made for the exhibition?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’