He had a couple more phone conversations with DC Stevens and DCI Tanner and he wrote up yet another report.

It got to the stage around five o’clock when he reluctantly accepted that there was no point just sitting in the village hall.

When the night shift crew reported for duty, he and DC Abbott took it as their cue to leave. James felt sorry for Abbott being cooped up by herself in the B&B so he invited her to join him and Annie for dinner. But she declined, saying that she was so tired she wouldn’t be good company and needed to climb into her bed as soon as possible.

James wasn’t that put out though, because he really didn’t feel like socialising.

Annie had spent the entire day indoors so she was pleased to see James when he arrived home. She told him that Bill had popped in during the afternoon and they had watched a film together on Netflix.

‘He’s still determined to spend Christmas with us, even if his car is repaired before then,’ she said. ‘And I made it clear to him that we won’t let him leave unless we know it’s perfectly safe to do so.’

Annie had prepared lasagne for dinner and they took their time eating it. But neither of them found it possible to relax. James’s mind kept drifting to the investigation and Annie was too restless and edgy to concentrate on anything he said.

When he told her that he was sure they would find the killer soon, she suddenly turned on him.

‘Don’t take me for a bloody fool,’ she snapped. ‘I know that’s not true and I don’t appreciate being lied to by you.’

Her eyes challenged him for a moment, and then tears sprang up in them and she broke down.

To James, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. He had noticed how she’d been struggling to deal with the pressure and the constant flow of appalling news.

He got up and went to her and he held her in his arms until she stopped crying. She then apologised for snapping at him but he told her that he perfectly understood.

‘We’re all feeling the strain of this,’ he said. ‘You more than most, Annie, because you had a connection with all three victims.’

Annie was in no mood for conversation after that so she went up to bed by herself again. It was still too early for James to go with her so he poured himself a large whiskey and took it into the study.

Once again, he pored over all his notes, along with the forensic findings. He studied the photos of the crime scenes and reports filed by the other officers who had interviewed neighbours and friends of the victims.

He then decided it was time to do what he’d said he’d do, which was to go through Lorna Manning’s diaries.

He worked backwards from the current year, but it wasn’t until he got to the one dated two years ago that he came across something that triggered a snap of electricity in his brain.