‘That’s good. I’m glad you’re able to spend time with them now.’

‘Harry brought it up. I saw the hurt and the confusion and the anger in his eyes as he talked about Ben. He doesn’t even have the option of confronting his father. Gemma won’t allow that. He’s effectively being placed in denial because of someone else’s wishes.’

‘I’m sure she’s looking out for her child’s best interests.’

‘I’m sure she is too. But wouldn’t it do him good to be able to see his dad and to ask him all the questions that a ten-year-old must have?’

‘Perhaps. I can’t say, as I’ve not met him.’

Dani sniffed at the vague and unhelpful response.

‘On the other hand,’ she said, ‘you’re right. The only person stopping me from moving on is me. Seeing him is something I now know I have to do.’

Ben was still on Dani’s mind as she made her way on foot from Scholz’s office to HQ. Out in the fresh air her anger rose again as she continued to think about her brother, and she shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts of him from her mind. Yes, she would see him, but she still had a job to do in the meantime. She couldn’t let him dominate her life, nor could she let her constant irritation sour her return to the force.

She walked down Colmore Row, past St Philip’s cathedral, the pavements busy with suited workers piling into their offices. Dani would normally arrive at HQ well before the morning rush got into full speed, and she dodged and occasionally bumped into the frustratingly slow movers as she stormed along. Just before she reached Snowhill station, Dani ducked into a Waitrose store to grab a strong black coffee that she hoped would help to calm her mood.

She waited in line at the self-service machine. On a rack to her left she spotted a small pile of Birmingham Mail newspapers from the night before. Unsurprisingly, the picture on the front cover was of Monday night’s press conference. McNair, Fletcher and Dani sitting in a row. McNair was in mid-speech, her hands gesticulating. Fletcher looked cool and composed. Dani looked like the proverbial rabbit in headlights.

The headline stated that the police were desperately trying to identify a murder victim, but that clearly wasn’t the whole story detailed in the fine print because Dani could also see the caption underneath the picture. Rather than giving her the plain old title of DI Stephens, the hacks had done exactly what McNair had suggested they might.

DI Danielle Stephens, twin sister of serial killer Ben Stephens, back with Force CID following her horrific attempted murder ordeal.