‘Although,’ said Grant, ‘you have to be wary of analysing these people with hindsight. It’s easy to look for the faults and the triggers in their past and put two and two together. Which then clouds the issue of whether they really were born killers, inherently evil, or if environmental factors led them to kill. It’s a difficult subject to analyse.’

‘But you did say you believed such born killers exist.’

‘I do.’

‘But you have no proof? You don’t know of anyone who fits that profile?’

Grant looked away and thought about that question for a good while.

‘No,’ he said, eventually. ‘But that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.’

He noticed a look of disquiet on Jessica’s face. He sensed she was about to say something else, but then his phone jumped up and down on the desk. He grabbed it and glanced at the screen.

‘Sorry, I’ve got to take this,’ he said. He got up from the desk and turned and walked to the window, looking out over the car park below. ‘Hi,’ Grant said as he accepted the call.

Mary, Grant’s wife, didn’t say anything and for a couple of seconds he thought her call had already gone through to voicemail. But then the sound of breathing came down the line.

‘Mary, what’s wrong?’ he said.

‘Steven, please come home. I really need you. It’s Ethan.’

‘What’s he done now?’ Grant said through gritted teeth, already feeling anger rise.

He turned and saw Jessica staring. She quickly looked away.

‘Please, can you just come home?’

‘Ok. I’m on my way.’

Chapter Seven

Dani checked her watch. Time to go. She got up from her desk and packed up her things, keeping her head down as she did so. Since she had arrived, one or two of her colleagues had come over to say hi, but she’d deliberately kept the conversations to the point, and hadn’t yet built up the courage to properly chat to anyone. Now she just wanted to get out to her next appointment at Missing Persons.

As she made a beeline for the exit she sensed the approach from her right. She was glad when she looked up and saw it was Fletcher, not Jason.

‘You’re off to Harborne?’ Fletcher asked.

‘Yeah. How—’

‘McNair mentioned it.’

Dani resisted rolling her eyes.

‘I can come with you, if you like.’

No. That really wasn’t what Dani wanted at all. She didn’t need a chaperone, or a watcher, or a helping hand. She just wanted to be left alone. No, more than that, she wanted to prove herself, if she was just given the space. But she also didn’t want to ruffle feathers so soon after her return.

‘Fine,’ Dani said.