‘One small point,’ added Avril. ‘Unfortunately, it won’t help you two lovely policemen. Teddy wasn’t his real name. It was a pet name that Nan used. I have no idea of his proper name.’

Great! thought Kevin. Another stumbling block.

They thanked Avril for her help and made their way back to the station. As he drove, Kevin said, ‘I’m not sure our Claire and her boy are going to be as easy to trace as we’d hoped. If they were accepted into a refuge here in Saltern, they wouldn’t be locals. They could have come from anywhere.’

‘That went through my mind too,’ said Gary. ‘Refuges only accept women from out of the area, it’s safer that way. And there’s nothing to say that Claire is her real name either. Women often adopt another name to make it harder for their abusers to find them.’

Oh boy. Kevin’s excitement was fading fast. So much for pinning all their hopes on Avril Cooke. They had certainly learned something, but was it enough to move the case forward?

* * *

Jackman and Marie listened to Kevin and Gary’s story. To their evident surprise, a slow smile spread over Jackman’s face. ‘Don’t look so downcast, lads. There’s one thing that stands out to me, and it might answer a simple but very important question.’ He paused, watching for their reactions. ‘You said Nan became close to the boy she called Teddy, and Teddy told her quite a lot about his mother and father’s relationship, did you not?’

Kevin nodded, then groaned. ‘Oh, of course! You think that’s the reason Nan had to die.’

Jackman nodded. ‘I do. We’ve been wondering all along if Nan knew something, and now we know she did. I think it’s Teddy’s father who’s stealing pictures and killing people. His son told Nan something, and whatever it was got her killed.’

Marie let out a low whistle. ‘I’ve been wondering why I keep remembering that old case — the father at the school gates, desperately hunting for his estranged children. Our killer is looking for his son, isn’t he?’

‘It would fit,’ Jackman said. ‘Picture the scenario. Wife can’t stand any more of his abuse and checks herself and their son into a refuge out of the area. He spends ages looking for them until, somehow, he discovers where they went. But did he find them? Or did they move on again?’

‘I’m betting they got away, or why would he still be hunting for his son?’ said Marie.

‘What if, in desperation, the mother surrendered the child to social services,’ said Kevin, ‘and the father’s trying to find where the boy has been fostered?’

‘Maybe.’ Jackman went across to the whiteboard and stared at the photos of the boys. ‘They’re of a similar age, but there are differences in appearance, even hair colour.’