Jackman took the picture from her and stared at it. It showed a man, possibly in his late thirties, wearing a hoodie, a plain T-shirt and smart denim jeans. He looked clean cut, unthreatening. ‘As you say, better than nothing, and it matches the description given by the parents. He looks about as far from the usual image of a paedophile as you could get. But as we know all too well, appearances can be deceptive.’

‘What I don’t understand is why he’s there at all,’ Marie said. ‘Bloke shows up, doesn’t speak to anyone and just goes away again. Weird.’

‘What I want to know is whether he could be connected to our night stalker.’

‘Robbie’s asked several of the parents to call us immediately if they spot him again, and we’ll have a car there pronto,’ said Marie. ‘It’s the best we can do. There are too many schools to post officers at every morning, and it might have nothing to do with the case. It might even be perfectly innocent — if we can only nail him and have a chat.’

‘What we don’t need is a panic among the parents,’ Jackman said. ‘It would only take one big mouth saying there’s a paedo watching their kids to have a witch-hunt on our hands.’

‘Maybe even a lynch mob, since kids are concerned,’ added Marie. ‘All I can say is that the parents we spoke to seemed sensible, just a bit disturbed at his appearing outside the school with no child in tow. Understandable really, and I reckon they were reassured to see us taking their concern seriously.’

‘So, is that it?’ Jackman said, taking a packet of chocolate biscuits from his desk drawer and offering it to her.

‘I have one more item on my short agenda, courtesy of our Kevin. He found out where Nan Cutler went to church and had a few words with the vicar and some of his helpers.’

Jackman grinned. ‘Very appropriate, considering his family.’ Kevin Stoner’s father was the diocesan bishop.

‘Well, he came back with some interesting stories about the deceased. It seems that although her neighbours considered her a sweet old thing, not everyone felt the same way. One or two thought Nan was a busybody, always sticking her nose into other people’s business. The vicar told Kevin that she’d even had to leave her last church because she’d had too much to say about one of the other women on the church committee. Got quite nasty apparently, and she was asked to go.’

‘Is that a fact?’ Jackman looked interested. ‘She must really have upset someone to be forced to leave. If she acted like that with a comparative stranger, what was she like with people close to her? Maybe she interfered in the killer’s life?’

‘My thoughts exactly,’ Marie said. ‘So, I’ve asked Gary and Kevin to draw up a list of all her relatives, close and more distant. I want to know what the family thought of Nancy Eliza Cutler.’