‘It’s a theory. An assumption. But so far we have no bodies. But we do have a list of missing women.’

‘Which is quite a leap to take.’

Dani ground her teeth. Why was Grant now having a sudden change of heart since their last conversation?

‘Maybe it is,’ she said. ‘Except one of the missing women is linked to Paul Reeve too. Potentially that’s two dead women who were both close to him, but then why is he dead too? Whatever the answer to that one, I can’t get past the possibility that there are more victims out there. Does the name Jessica Bradford mean anything to you?’

Something flashed across Grant’s face – fear? – but was gone as quickly as it’d come.

‘I don’t think so,’ he said, pursing his lips.

‘She was a student at the university. She went missing last week. A psychology student. I believe some of the modules she took were yours.’

Grant shrugged. ‘Some of my modules have well over a hundred participants. I rarely get to know each and every student. Are you saying she’s linked to the other people you’re investigating?’

‘I don’t know yet. But I will find out.’

Dani stared resolutely at Grant for a few seconds until he looked away, down at the desk.

‘Coming back to my point,’ Dani said, ‘about the person who sent those notes to me. If it is the killer, then it’s someone who really cares about what they’re doing. Someone who takes time and effort finding victims and making sure they leave as little evidence as they can. My guess is that stabbing someone to death in the street isn’t really their regular thing. It’s just too… easy, and ordinary.’

Grant huffed, as though he was feeling both frustrated and lost.

‘My point is,’ Dani said, ‘why hasn’t this killer been on the radar before now?’

‘It could be that this is just the start. Natalya was his first victim.’

‘His,’ Dani said.

‘Excuse me?’

‘You said his. People always say his when talking about unidentified murderers. Even I do it. It’s just interesting that you, the expert, do it as well.’

‘It’s simple probability. It depends exactly which statistics you look at, but rarely have I seen a study where the proportion of male versus female serial killers is given as less than ninety percent.’

‘Fair enough. What I was getting at though is that perhaps what we’re dealing with here is a killer who’s been very careful in the past. A killer who leaves as little evidence as they can. This isn’t someone like my brother, where rage or revenge or something like that was a driving force behind his actions and he simply lost control.’

‘You think that’s what made your brother a killer?’