‘That’s good. We’ve also managed to get a proper mugshot from the DVLA of Kyle Halliday’s driving licence, which is still registered to the address in Fleet where apparently he no longer lives. Just to remind you we’re still under newspaper and press blackout.’

A phone rang on the edge of the incident room. Hoskins answered it, and began making notes. His alarmed tone was picked up by others sitting nearby, especially when he started looking around.

‘What is it?’ Otara asked.

‘Perry isn’t here, is he?’ Hoskins looked around the room.

‘No. He’s gone home to work on the Jane Morris case. I’ve sent a family liaison officer with him, in case of bad news.’

Hoskins nodded. ‘Good. Because they’ve just found a young woman’s body, near the village of Long Stainton.’

Detective Inspector John Perry arrived at the crime scene only a few minutes after CSI had erected the tent. The liaison officer had sensibly decided to come with him. Perry spotted the distinctive Tesla of Home Office forensic pathologist Dr David Delahaye, and managed to buttonhole the man himself as he emerged grim-faced from the tent, wearing a Tyvek suit and blue latex gloves.

‘Is it my daughter?’ Perry asked. ‘Is it Vanessa?’

A uniformed constable prevented Perry from following the pathologist back to his car, and seemed unaware that he was actually a detective, until the liaison woman explained. Perry’s eyes followed the pathologist as he rooted about in the boot of his car and returned with a black briefcase.

‘How old is your daughter?’ Delahaye asked, as he prepared to duck back into the small tent that had been set up at the edge of a hedge.

‘Seventeen,’ breathed Perry.

Delahaye permitted himself a small smile. ‘It’s not her, then. The victim is in her mid-twenties I would say.’

‘Thank God.’ It was only the intervention of the two uniformed officers that prevented Perry falling to his knees. The liaison officer put her arm around Perry, and led him to her car. He clung on to her like a child, sobbing with relief.

‘We’ll find her soon, John, don’t you worry.’

His next utterance, choked with tears, took her a while to understand. Five dead already. What chance does she have?

She shushed him, and stroked his back. Over his shoulder she could see a large red plastic suitcase being removed from the tent in a clear plastic bag.

Chapter Twenty-one

Two hours earlier

There was no satnav in the Fiat and Vanessa Perry wasn’t very good with maps. Two police cars screamed past her in the opposite direction just before she got to the turn-off for the village of Long Stainton. She had only gone a hundred yards down the narrow country lane when Kyle ducked out from behind a hedge and flagged her down. He pulled open the driver-side door and seized her by the hair, dragging her out. ‘Where have you been, you stupid bitch?’ He cuffed her round the head, three times: forehand backhand forehand. It made her ears ring. It was only the second time he had ever hit her, not counting when they had sex.