‘Don’t worry. My fault as much as yours. It would be nice to go out properly though. I feel like this is going somewhere.’

‘I agree,’ Mark said, and meant it. It wasn’t how he thought it was going to happen, but he was happy, he realised.

Then he thought of Emily Burns and her family waiting for answers. He felt immediately guilty about his own happiness.

He didn’t have to wait long for that guilt to grow.

Thirty-three

The call came with no warning. A breathless detective inspector, telling him to get down to a place he didn’t recognise.

Her name, her body.

This time it was real. This time there was no doubt.

His fears were proven correct.

Emily was dead.

Mark had hoped that another mistake had been made, but it became clear quite quickly that there was no doubt among the team about who they had found.

They’d checked for a birthmark this time.

The temperature was low, becoming chilling each time the wind whipped up around him and crashed into his face. Mark was standing in an old builder’s yard, the detritus and decay of it indicating it hadn’t been used for a long time. Just another abandoned piece of land that would spend years lying empty until someone eventually came and built tiny thin-walled flats on it. He looked around, unable to see anything past the high walls that bordered almost the entire yard. At the far end, metal railings backed onto the disused train line behind. A forgotten place. Like the place where they’d first found her blood.

Which wasn’t that far away. If he’d craned his neck, he could make out an edge of the entrance to the place. He looked up and there was the top of the building where Joanna Carter’s body had been found.

Too close.

‘She was discovered behind one of those burnt-out cars,’ DI Bennett said, pointing into the distance, where officers in protective clothing ducked down out of sight. ‘When the uniforms who were dealing with the young girl with the knife moved the crowd back, there were a few reports about a suspicious smell. She’s in a bad state, so I’m guessing it’s likely she’s been here since the night she went missing.’

‘What is this yard? Is it still in use?’

‘It’s been abandoned for years. We’re trying to track the owner, but odds are it’s part of someone’s extensive portfolio of land; just another old place waiting to be renovated into houses or something similar. They probably won’t have a clue what goes on here on a regular basis. But guess who does some of his business here? Our favourite nutcase, who just so happens to be related to the dead woman over there…’

‘Uncle Rich…’ Mark said under his breath.