Sylvia was right. They needed a Patsy. The rest of them were still too raw from their experiences and could well get overemotional. Her only concern was when it came to delving into their pasts, which could bring secrets to light. Would Callum’s presence be a constraint? She supposed she’d just have to play it by ear. She really didn’t want to send him from the room.

Soon, they were all seated in her lounge. Annie took a deep breath. ‘I really appreciate you all taking the time to be here. I think we could be a great help to the police in getting this dreadful man off the streets.’

After a few shy moments, they were all chatting animatedly, sharing their experiences and fears. If nothing else, this meeting would be good therapy, Annie thought.

‘Ladies,’ she said, ‘I expect that, like me, you were all asked by the police whether anyone had come into your house in the last few months — like plumbers or electricians, for example.’

‘Who might have had the opportunity to check for photographs,’ Fleur Harper said.

‘That’s right. In case you’ve forgotten, Callum has made a list of the kind of people you might have let in. Callum?’

Consulting his trusty notebook, Callum began to intone: ‘BT or Openreach engineers, plumbers, electricians or central heating operatives . . .’ The list was exhaustive.

Although all of them had had one or two from the list in their houses, none had visited them all. Annie went to make tea and left them talking.

After the drinks and biscuits had been handed out, Natalie, who had been very quiet up to now, suddenly said, ‘I did have one caller, come to think of it.’

Everyone looked at her.

‘A Sky engineer. He said he needed to check the serial number on the Sky box, as they were finding faults on a particular batch.’

‘Me too!’ Sylvia cried, ‘I’d forgotten that. He was only there for a couple of minutes and said mine was fine.’

‘And me,’ added Fleur. ‘Around three weeks ago it was.’

Then Annie remembered the 4x4 with Sky Sports emblazoned across the rear windscreen. A man in a blue-and-black polo shirt with Sky embroidered on the shoulder and an ID card around his neck had told her exactly the same thing. ‘That’s how he got in! That’s our link, ladies. And I remember him clearly.’ She described the man, and the others all agreed with her, adding odd details that they recalled, until they had a very good picture of him.

‘Did anyone recognise him from anywhere?’ Fleur asked.

‘He was a complete stranger to me,’ said Sylvia.

The others concurred.

‘If none of us know him,’ mused Annie, ‘why did he pick on us?’

‘It has to be something to do with those pictures of the boys,’ said Natalie. ‘But what?’

‘Yes, what?’ said a small voice.