‘Murphy’s outside,’ said Con to the room. ‘Eliza, can you go find the side door and let him in? I don’t think he wants to be seen.’

‘Okay,’ said Eliza, still full of energy following their conversation – she jogged out of the room.

The moment she was gone, Con hissed at Gabriella, ‘Why the hell is she here?’

‘Because she’s a part of this,’ Gabriella snapped back. ‘You keep forgetting how strange this case is. Remember how Eliza was found? What Georgia saw?’

‘What she thought she saw! This isn’t the time to start bringing pet civilians into the investigation.’

‘Pet civilians? Then why is Jordan Murphy rocking up at your hotel in the middle of the night?’ demanded Gabriella.

‘Because he has actual evidence.’

‘And this statue isn’t? It’s the same as the one tied to Bree’s wrist!’

‘It tells us nothing. If you hadn’t handled it, we might’ve been able to dust for a print.’

She poked him hard in the chest. ‘Don’t you dare, Badenhorst. Madison and Eliza had both already touched it. Don’t you dare: I’m just as much a detective as you are. Don’t take your testosterone out on me.’

‘Is this a bad time?’ said Eliza wryly from the doorway.

Murphy stood beside her, his face haggard and pale. The smell of spilled beer and a strange foresty smell came into the room with him.

Con reached for his laptop. ‘Show us, Murphy.’

‘Show us what?’ said Gabriella.

‘It’s a USB drive Madison gave to me. She and Jasmine made these videos . . .’ Murphy handed the USB to Con. ‘Butch raped her mum . . . Sara . . . my wife. Butch is her real father.’

‘Butch?’ said Eliza, horrified. ‘He raped Sara?’

‘What?’ said Gabriella.

‘And now I don’t know where he’s gone . . .’ said Murphy, voice flat. ‘But I came here because otherwise I’ll kill him.’

‘Good for you, Murphy,’ murmured Gabriella.

‘She’s still your daughter, mate, no matter what,’ said Con firmly. He put the USB drive into the port. It opened to show the six video files. ‘Have you watched them all?’

Murphy nodded once, then hesitated. ‘Well, actually . . . no. Not the last two.’

‘Let’s start from the top, then,’ said Con.

The others crowded around as they watched the videos.

By the time the fourth video ended, with Jasmine asking Murphy to cut Butch out of his life, Murphy’s eyes were wet, his teeth bared in his beard. Every breath seemed to physically hurt him. ‘I think Butch took the girls,’ he said. ‘He knew where the Fisherman’s Hut was: we’re the ones who showed it to Jack in the first place. I think he knew Jasmine was going to tell me what he did to Sara, and so he killed her to keep her quiet.’