‘Well, I have to say, Judith’s guess was correct. As usual. The killer left a medallion at the scene of each murder. The first had the word “Faith” carved into it, the second and third had the words “Hope” and “Charity”.’

‘But why?’

‘I believe it’s a message for the police,’ Judith said to Tanika.

‘That’s what I’ve been thinking as well,’ Tanika agreed.

‘What makes you say that?’ Becks asked.

‘It must have been,’ Judith said. ‘Who else was going to see the three bodies after they’d been killed? And you know what I can’t help noticing? There isn’t a fourth part of the saying, is there? It’s just “Faith, hope and charity”. Three words. Three bodies. So the killer’s telling the police, it’s over.’

‘That’s what I’m hoping,’ Tanika agreed.

‘But the fact that it’s Masonic has to mean something as well. Have you checked to see if Andy Bishop’s a Mason?’

‘Not yet. We’ve been kind of busy. But I’ll get someone to look into it now.’

Tanika turned to leave the room, but stopped in the doorway as a thought occurred to her.

‘You said you had three questions.’

Judith smiled.

‘Have you found a copy of the Borlasian magazine in Iqbal’s house?’

‘You were serious about that?’

‘Could you send someone to his house? There’ll be a copy of the most recent magazine, and I very much think that page 74 will have been torn out.’

Tanika looked from Judith to the other two women, but all she could see was the same eagerness. She sighed, giving in to the force of nature that was Judith Potts.

‘Very well. I’ll send an officer to check it out,’ she said and made her exit, closing the door behind her.

As soon as they were on their own, Suzie looked at the others in utter amazement.

‘What the fuck are we doing here?’

‘Ssh!’ Becks said, appalled. ‘You can’t swear in here, it’s a police station.’

Suzie wasn’t listening as she got out her phone and started pressing and swiping it.

‘You know, I took your advice, Judith,’ she said. ‘I got back in touch with Amy, and it’s the best thing I ever did. Hey, Amy,’ she said into the screen, ‘guess where I am?’

Suzie turned the phone around, and Becks and Judith saw that Suzie had started a video call.

‘What’s that, Mum?’ a voice said from the speaker of the phone.

‘I’m in Maidenhead police station!’

‘What have you done now?’

‘Nothing! The police want my help, can you believe it? And these are my friends, Judith and Becks. Go on, say hello,’ Suzie said to Becks and Judith as she trained the camera on them.