Amanda sipped her Scotch and looked at the statement again. George Markham’s handwriting was spidery, barely legible. Then she sat forward in her seat with a jolt. As she scrambled through the paperwork in front of her, her heart began to pound.

Then she found what she was looking for: George Markham’s blood testing statement. He had signed it in a large childish script.

She held the two signatures together, her hands shaking. Then she downed the Scotch in one gulp and picked up the telephone. Kate’s mother answered. Leaving her home number, Amanda told Evelyn that Kate was to ring her as soon as she got in.

Kate was home at one thirty, the day’s events a blur, except for Patrick’s lovemaking. She walked into the house and straight up the stairs to her bedroom. The note on the table by the phone went unnoticed.

She heard the alarm go off at six and pulled herself from bed. Her mouth felt dry, as if it was full of cotton wool. She pulled on her dressing gown and padded into the bathroom. She needed a good hot shower and at least one pot of coffee to get herself set up for the day ahead. After yesterday’s fiasco, she knew that today was not going to be a good one.

In the shower she soaped her body absentmindedly. Patrick had made her feel good. He had held her and told her he loved her, and she had needed that so much. He had been so understanding with her that she felt almost as if he knew what she was going through, as if he had an affinity with her, a special knowledge.

She was so lucky to have him.

She wrapped herself in a large bath towel and, pushing on her slippers, walked down the stairs to make her coffee. It was six fifteen.

As she walked past the telephone she saw the piece of paper that her mother had left for her and picked it up and read in the hallway light.

She dialled the number.

‘Hello, Amanda?’

‘Oh, Kate, I’ve been worried out of my mind! Look, I think George Markham is our man . . .’

‘What!’ Kate’s voice rose.

‘I went back through his files. The signatures on his statements are different. He must have had someone take the test for him.’

As the enormity of what Amanda was saying penetrated, Kate felt a surge of excitement.

‘Who else have you told?’

‘No one.’

‘Oh, Amanda, you’re brilliant! I’ll see you in about twenty minutes, OK?’

‘OK.’

‘And, Amanda . . . thanks a million.’

‘Any time. Oh, and one last thing. I put a call out for his car again. I told them to concentrate on the Kent area. That’s obviously the last place he was.’

‘Great, Amanda. You’ll make DI yet, my girl.’