He had skulked into the kitchen and sat at the breakfast bar, staring across at the oven. Not quite knowing what to do, Georgie had rummaged through the cupboards and found one with six boxes of black tea, mostly Earl Grey but others too, some of which she had never even heard of. She knew he sometimes had lemon instead of milk but she had no idea how to put a concoction like that together so she had gone with milk, which he seemed grateful for.

‘What does she want with Hemingway?’ he mumbled as she took a stool opposite him.

‘I don’t know.’ She wanted to say something comforting, but a thought was pulling at her. A nagging idea. ‘You know,’ she said, slowly so she knew he was taking it in. ‘It might not be her.’

‘No. She knows I love those fish.’

‘Not that. I mean the murders.’

Priest looked up. Tapped his finger against the side of the cup thoughtfully.

‘She’s been one step ahead of us all along,’ he said. ‘She knew it was Julian Greenwood in that photo, she knew that he is Dominique’s illegitimate son, she knew about Mims and Simeon. I thought it was because she was a good, albeit nosy, reporter.’

‘Maybe it was.’

‘I don’t know,’ he said, exasperated. ‘Nothing makes sense.’

Georgie got up and poured herself a glass of tap water. A strange feeling had crept over her, one that she didn’t like. She wanted it to be Fox, but why? Because it was an explanation, something they could use to sort this mess out? Or because she just didn’t like her? And what if it was Fox? Then her reaction to seeing Simeon’s dead body had been callously feigned.

She stayed by the sink, thinking it through. But she kept coming back to the same conclusion. Why would Fox have killed Simeon and then purposefully placed the body in her own car? She’s not that dumb.

‘We have to find her,’ Priest said at last.

‘OK,’ Georgie breathed.

‘Of course she has a hostage so we have to be cautious.’

She didn’t catch on immediately. ‘Who . . .? Oh, your fish.’

‘Come on.’ Charlie took his jacket from the back of the chair.

She hesitated. ‘You think she took a blowtorch to a woman’s eyes and burnt them out?’

‘I don’t know. But I intend to find out. And if she did, you know what that means?’

‘What?’

Charlie finished pulling his jacket on and ushered her to the door. ‘It means my fish is in mortal danger.’

*