Marie laughed. ‘You haven’t met Davy. He hates technology. He left it at school in his bag. Oh yes, and he likes proper books too, not Kindles.’ She looked across at Jackman. ‘He’s another one that’s found a vocation amid this mess of a case. He says he’s going to work with a wildlife rescue organisation. He’s already had all the injured animals and birds removed from Lapwing Creek, and with the help of his school, has ferried them to a “hospital” he’s set up in an old disused outbuilding in the school grounds.’

‘No lasting trauma from his abduction and that time in the car?’ asked Laura. ‘That’s surprising.’

Marie looked thoughtful. ‘He’s a very unusual boy, Laura. He’s mature beyond his years. He said he was sure being separated from his beloved son had messed up Mr Edwards’s mind, but he was a good kind man at heart who loved wildlife and cared deeply for his animals. He said that the short time he’d spent in that hut with his “friend” and the animals was the most peaceful and rewarding of his life.’

‘Of course he had no idea what Jordan had planned when he put him in the car,’ Jackman said. ‘It will come out in the media, but I hope Davy doesn’t get to hear about it for many years.’

‘What will happen to Jordan Spiller?’ asked Hugh. ‘He’s a man with two sides all right, an angel to some and a devil to others.’

Jackman swirled his brandy, causing the reflections of the flames to catch the glass and flash like golden shooting stars. ‘There’s a lot of evidence that’s been gathered from each crime scene, starting with his blood on the wardrobe door in Nan Cutler’s house, and frankly, I can’t see him denying any of it. As long as he’s fit to stand trial, he’ll get life, no doubt about it. He deliberately murdered three people and intended to kill Fleur Harper as well, for rejecting Teddy when he needed her, but he sensed something damaged in her too and changed his mind. He’ll go down for sure, but personally I think he will serve his time in a secure psychiatric hospital like Broadmoor.’

Laura thought he looked rather sad at this, and maybe he was. Spiller could have had a very different life if his wife had not taken his son and told him the most terrible lie of all, that his boy had died alone. Young Davy was quite right. It had messed with his mind, and he’d set about either obliterating or terrifying anyone who expressed the slightest sympathy with his treacherous, lying wife. And he kept seeking out his son in another child. Not all killers were born evil. Some were simply the product of another’s dark heart.