‘She didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt like they did. I can’t tell you how much she struggled with what she did to her friends. When DC Ribbons came round to speak to us, that was when she realised what had happened to them all and she couldn’t live with herself. It’s been so long, I’m just getting her back … Please!’

Joel stepped closer and took her by the shoulders. ‘This is going to come out. You can’t keep this secret. The girls and their families deserve to know what happened, but we will tell them that you’re helping us now. We’ve arrested someone today. Maybe that will take some of the attention off what you did. But Callie’s part will come out in full. You need to be ready for that.’

‘Ready …’ Sharon looked exhausted. ‘Ready to defend my daughter, you mean? How can I defend anyone now …? I just killed a girl.’

Chapter 55

Joel pressed the cup to his mouth and sucked the hot drink on autopilot, his gaze on the material laid out in front of him. He’d forgotten about the foul-tasting coffee dispensed by machines in police stations and it seemed Dover was no different.

‘We need to get the coffee situation resolved,’ he muttered, even as he forced the liquid down and went back for another sip.

‘Add it to the list,’ DS Rose replied. They had found a makeshift office in the depths of Dover Police Station that had the feeling of a meeting room and claimed it by spreading out material from Hannah Ribbons’s casefile. Both their police radios were on. The patrol sergeant was still leading the search for Jamie Evans from the Evans’s home address and one of the radios was monitoring its progress. The other radio was on the local channel in case anything significant was reported on there. Joel had laid out the case material in six rows, one for each of the families known to be victims of blackmail. Five of the six rows stretched out to fill the desks, stuffed with witness statements, phone downloads and seizures. After what Sharon had told them, he was more certain than ever that the answers were contained somewhere in this material.

The noise and confusion in the office were increased by the shrill ring of a mobile phone.

‘Ma’am,’ Joel said in answer. He had been expecting Superintendent Marsden to call; he was only surprised it had taken so long.

‘Joel, a fine mess we have down there, I see.’

‘It seems to be getting messier all the time,’ Joel said.

‘Then you may be relieved to hear that we’re sending reinforcements.’

‘Anyone you can spare. The FRU are already directing anyone they can this way for the search.’

‘For the search, yes. The reinforcements are for you personally.’

‘For me?’