The sight of the dagger unsettled James. It seemed out of place in the office. A frown tugged his eyebrows together and the air suddenly felt heavy around him.

He turned back to the priest and said, ‘So why are you here, Father? Shouldn’t you be in bed?’

‘There was something I needed to finish.’

The priest licked his lips nervously and started blinking fast. James knew then that something wasn’t right and a jolt of adrenaline spiked through him.

The priest then moved his body abruptly to one side, as though in an attempt to conceal something on the desk. It was so obvious that James couldn’t let it pass.

‘If I may say so, you’re acting very suspiciously, Father. Is something the matter?’

The priest shook his head. ‘Of course not. I’m just busy and I need to get on with what I was doing.’

James decided it was time to stop arsing around. He needed to find out why Father Silver was acting like this. He took another step forward and gently pushed the man out of the way with his elbow.

And he saw straight away what the priest was trying to hide. On top of the desk was a pack of cards with the Twelve Days of Christmas design. And next to them was a black marker.

James felt his lungs empty as it dawned on him what was going on. And he couldn’t fucking believe it.

But as he turned, he glimpsed the priest’s right arm swinging towards him, an object clasped in the hand. He had no time to react as it smashed into his left temple and sent him sprawling onto the floor.

Before the lights in his head went out, the priest stood over him and said, ‘You are not one of the sinners, Detective Walker, so I won’t kill you because you don’t deserve to die. But because of what you now know, I must bring my mission to an end. After tonight, I will bow out gracefully.’

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

In the dream Annie is holding a baby in her arms. Her and James’s baby.

His name is Lucas and he’s only three weeks old. But already he’s the centre of their universe. Everything revolves around their little bundle of joy.

They have to feed him, wind him, change him, rock him to sleep. And they’re both loving every minute of it because they never thought it would happen. But it did, and Annie can’t believe that she’s at last been blessed.

Eventually they’ll try for another because she’s always wanted two kids – the perfect sized family – and she doesn’t care if it’s a girl or another boy, as long as it’s healthy.

She can see the smile on her own face, the pride in her eyes, the sheer contentment coming off her in waves.

So when the image suddenly fades, as it always does, she hears herself cry out.

That’s when she realises that it wasn’t real. It was all in her head. Again. A version of the same dream she’s had many times before. As always, it woke her up and now she could feel her body shaking and the tears stinging her eyes.