Jake was reminded why he’d once respected Pete. ‘It doesn’t necessarily mean Campbell is lying about believing the church was paying rent for the girls’ home cottage. But it does beg the question of why he said the transactions would be traceable in his financial records and they aren’t.’

‘So you at least have something to implicate him?’

‘Minor, but it’s a door to open when I question him again.’

‘Moving forward,’ Pete continued. ‘With little to go on I haven’t had much luck tracing any more girls from the home. Are you able to give me anything more? Possible dates, names, physical descriptions?’

‘I’ll keep asking the three girls we have, but most of what they recall is vague.’

‘Understandable.’ Pete paused. ‘I am ringing with something concrete, though.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Your suspect Liam O’Brien. Before he was a gardener in Castlemaine for one of the St John of God monasteries …’

Geezus.

‘… he was a medical student at Royal Melbourne. Surgery.’

Gotcha! ‘Now there’s something he failed to mention.’

‘He made it five years in before being thrown out of the course. I couldn’t get much detail from the administrator who found the file for me, but she could make out the words “inappropriate conduct”.’

‘Doesn’t that just cover a whole world of sins? Thanks, Pete.’

So Liam O’Brien had been a surgical trainee who fell back on gardening once he was booted from the profession. He would definitely have been able to perform the genital mutilations on the girls—perhaps even on his own sister—and sew them up neatly. Whether St John of God were financially involved in the girls’ home or not, a tangible connection had finally been made.

Jake lay out his clothes and began to dress.

This gave him probable cause, at least in relation to the mutilation of Amelia and Lilith. Surely Kelly would approve of Jake arresting O’Brien on suspicion of the torture and abuse of children now? In Jake’s experience incarceration could work wonders on the tongues of all but the most hardened of criminals.

Buttoning up his shirt, Jake reasoned that O’Brien might have freaked out and decided to silence his sister so she couldn’t reveal what he’d done to the girls at her home.

A nagging memory tugged at the corner of Jake’s mind—the shock O’Brien had expressed when he first saw Ava’s fingers.

He pushed it away. He needed to get somewhere on this case.

Jake called Kelly, who didn’t pick up. Probably reason­able given the hour. He left a message.

‘It’s Hunter. I have confirmation that Liam O’Brien was a surgical resident before he became a gardener at St John of God. I hope it’s enough for a warrant, sir, because I’m going to his house to bring him in.’