As far as they knew, Spiller had no gun, and although he was deemed highly dangerous, a threat assessment had found the deployment of a firearms unit to be unnecessary. Jackman knew that Ruth had thought long and hard about this, but knowing a child to be involved, she had declined the use of firearms. So, it was down to the element of surprise and a volume of officers going in fast and hitting Spiller hard. He was pretty sure Ruth would have alerted the tactical support team, who would be standing by in case things went pear-shaped, but hopefully they wouldn’t be needed.

In ten minutes they were ready — uniformed officers and detectives. Jackman took a deep breath. It was time to make a move and take up position closer to the Hideaway. He nodded to the drone pilot. ‘Okay. As soon as we get to within striking range, send her up.’

* * *

Vic Blackwell sent a young detective out to get him something to eat and a proper coffee. By now, his stomach was groaning audibly.

Just as he prepared to take a bite out of his sandwich, his desk phone rang.

‘DS Blackwell? Spike here in Forensics. The prof has asked me to give you a prelim update on the death of Mrs Catherine Shields.’

‘Thanks, Spike, what have got for me?’ He grabbed a pen.

‘She died from multiple stab wounds. It wasn’t a frenzied attack, and there were no defensive wounds on the hands or arms. From the blood spatter patterns, we are pretty certain that she was killed while she was asleep in her chair, then dragged behind the sofa. From their depth, the wounds were made with considerable force and very deliberately.’ He paused. ‘Oh, and the killer was right-handed, by the way. The instrument used was a kitchen knife found at the scene, with traces of her blood still on it. Exactly when she died has been hard to establish, Sergeant, but we believe around a week ago. The central heating was operating on a timer, so there was no average temperature to use as a gauge, and rigor mortis had long since passed, so we’re working on insect activity, mainly the blowfly.’

Vic stared at his sandwich and sighed.

‘Apart from that, there’s nothing much to tell you, Sarge. The full report will be with you in a day or so, hopefully. Cause of death is confirmed but the prof is running a screening test to see if she was sedated prior to her death. There were sleeping pills found in her bedside cabinet.’

Vic thanked him and was about to hang up when Spike continued.