Carver had left the hall ten minutes ago and James had immediately arranged for the latest Christmas card to be taken to the lab.

He was now on a conference call with DCI Tanner and DS Stevens and they’d been put in the picture.

‘It makes you wonder if going to the press was part of the perp’s grand plan from the outset,’ Tanner said. ‘Or is he just frustrated because we’ve kept a lid on the cards? He probably wants everyone to know about them. I mean, why else would he make use of them?’

‘What gets me is how audacious this person is,’ Stevens said. ‘He would have known that we had patrols out last night and that the streets were virtually empty. And yet he still went and posted the card through the reporter’s letter box.’

‘According to Carver, it would have happened after eleven because he didn’t go to bed until then and he made sure the front door was locked before going upstairs,’ James said.

‘Our man obviously knows the village like the back of his hand,’ Tanner said. ‘Which of course he would, if he lives there.’

‘We can’t patrol every street and alleyway,’ James said. ‘Kirkby Abbey is pretty small, but that actually makes it easy for someone familiar with the place to move around in the dark without being seen.’

‘It intrigues me that the perp is so obsessed with getting the message out there that his victims deserve what’s happening to them,’ Stevens said. ‘It certainly gives rise to the possibility that he knows about Lorna Manning’s hit-and-run secret.’

‘And as we already know, Charlie Jenkins is no angel.’

They could have discussed the case for much longer, but there were things to do, so James took the initiative and called time on the conversation. He said he wouldn’t be joining the team briefing by video link and suggested the three of them have another catch up later.

He then rang Annie, but she didn’t answer so he left a voice message.

‘Hi, hon. I’ve been wondering about the chat I need to have with your uncle and I think that for his sake it should be as informal as possible. So, can you get him to come to the house later? Maybe for dinner? If there’s a problem then let me know.’

When he hung up, DC Abbott had a message for him.

‘We’ve just taken a call from one of the villagers,’ she said. ‘A Miss Edith Palmer. I think we should go and see her.’

‘Why is that?’

‘She claims she saw a man on the pavement outside her home in Peabody Street around midnight last night. He apparently ducked into a doorway when our patrol car drove past. It struck her as suspicious.’

‘I’m not surprised. Did she recognise him?’

‘It appears so. His name is Peter King and he runs the village grocery store.’

‘That’s interesting,’ James said. ‘I spoke to Mr King on Saturday when I visited the store. He’s the one selling those Twelve Days of Christmas cards.’