Kelly had come up the hard way and Kate wondered if events in his childhood had made him what he was. Socialisation, the social workers called it. Kate had her own opinion. She thought that Kelly was a man who would have made something of himself whatever class he was born in: he had an inbred cunning, a need to achieve by whatever means he could. And she sensed that he wanted those achievements not so much for himself but for his wife and his child. He had worked to give Mandy everything, a fifty thousand pound car and a hairdressing salon and beauty parlour. She would love to be able to hand those to Lizzy on a plate. Wouldn’t all parents? No, Patrick Kelly’s reputation as a hard man was only true to an extent. Deep inside he was no different to anyone else; he just earned his money in unconventional ways.

When he had finally been able to see his daughter Kate had felt his anguish. It was obvious that Mandy was not going to live; she was so badly brain damaged, it would be kinder to let her die. But she was hanging on and Kate knew that Kelly would find it very difficult to accept that she was going to die. He felt pure willpower could pull her through.

Kate sighed. When she had finally left him to go home and grab a quick shower and a change of clothes before coming to work, she had felt as if she was abandoning him. As she’d walked from the ITU, she’d felt his eyes burning into her back. Now, at her desk, she admitted to herself that she found Patrick Kelly attractive. He was one hell of a good-looking man. She chastised herself. Your trouble, Kate Burrows, is you haven’t had a man for too long. You should get yourself laid. Do you the world of good.

She smiled.

She had only ever had one man in her life and she was divorced from him. Shows how much Kelly affected me, she thought. I haven’t thought about sex for years.

No, that was a lie. She’d thought about it, just never done anything about it.

She was glad when DS Spencer broke into her thoughts.

‘So, ma’am, what’s the next step?’

Kate sighed.

‘Well, as far as I can see, we just keep interviewing. I want you to find out if any of the door-to-door had a dark-coloured Orion car. One was reported seen on the waste ground last night.’

Spencer looked at the ceiling.

‘Look, ma’am, the man who reported that was not exactly a reliable witness . . . know what I mean . . .’

Kate chewed the inside of her mouth for a few seconds before answering.