‘I thought that too. We could try asking around the women’s refuge centres in the area. It would help if we could get a good description from one of the parents. Then there’s the CCTV from the schools. If nothing else, it would put the parents’ minds at rest to know we’re taking it seriously. Good for public confidence.’ Jackman smiled. ‘Ruth will like that.’

‘Well, if we’ve nothing else on, I’m happy to take that one.’ Marie stood up.

‘Take Gary with you. He’s up to date on all his work. Robbie and Max are still completing their reports on the last big case, so they’ll have their heads down for a bit longer. Oh, and Marie — while you were away, Robbie and Ella split up. Amicably, as far as I know, but just so you know the score, in case he’s a bit remote.’

Jackman was just about to say something else when there was a knock on his door. He was mildly surprised to see PC Stacey Smith and the good-looking Asian lad he’d been seeing around lately.

‘Come in, Stacey. Everything okay?’ Stacey had been around for a long while now, and Jackman liked her. She was a good solid beat bobby — if such a thing even existed these days.

‘I wondered if I could run something past you, sir. I’ve had a word with our skipper, and he said it was okay, as long as you’re not too busy?’ She gestured to the young PC at her side. ‘This is PC Jay Acharya, sir, my new crewmate. Transferred here last month.’

Jackman nodded to him. ‘Sit down, both of you. How are we treating you, PC Acharya?’

‘Oh, very well, sir. It’s great here, and I’m learning a lot from Stacey.’

He had a ready smile, even if he did look a little surprised at receiving such a warm welcome — from a DI, no less.

‘This is DS Marie Evans.’ Jackman indicated to Marie and grinned. ‘Our Welsh dragon. Okay, Stacey, spill the beans.’

As she relayed events, he began to understand her concern. Stacey knew the area and its population well, good and bad. Grassroots knowledge like that was of enormous help to CID.

‘So,’ Jackman said, ‘looks like you have two possibilities. Ratty is escalating into something a little more dangerous, or there’s another intruder at large in the area.’

‘That’s how we see it, sir. PC Simon Laker dealt with another one later on this morning. Same kind of thing, but he swears it wasn’t Ratty because of the size of the footprints they left behind.’ She pulled a face. ‘I know this isn’t a CID thing, sir, but I have a bad feeling about it, and I thought you should be aware, just in case it turns nasty and our intruder does more than just stare at his victims.’ She looked angry. ‘And they are victims, sir. He’s scaring these women half to death.’

‘I appreciate your concern, Stacey. Perhaps you’d keep me up to speed as things progress?’