I’d encountered a disturbing number of murder victims during my time on the force. Men, women and children who’d been shot, stabbed, beaten and burned. But I’d never felt as traumatised as I did now. This was the first time I’d stood looking down at the body of someone I’d actually known. And it was a totally different experience. I had to fight the urge to give in to my emotions and cry, or throw up, or run back to the car. It wasn’t easy, but I stood my ground and focused on keeping my breath steady and even.

‘Mrs Prentiss started screaming when she saw him and then ran into the street to get help,’ Resnick said. ‘It was a neighbour who called the three nines. We’ve started going door-to-door, but so far we haven’t found anyone who saw anything.’

‘What about CCTV cameras?’ Drummond asked.

Resnick shook his head. ‘There are none in this street and I expect the nearest one will be on the main road, which is a bugger.’

He then told us that to get into the house we’d have to go through the kitchen so I tore my gaze away from the body and followed him and Drummond around the side of the house.

It was all so surreal and upsetting, and I found it hard to concentrate.

Inside it was a perfectly normal house except for the ghostlike figures and the low, strained conversations.

In every room there were things that had been bought for the baby. A cot, packs of nappies, a Moses basket, neatly folded vests and rompers.

There was a lead weight in my heart and it got heavier when we walked into the living room and I saw framed photos of Prentiss and his wife on the mantelpiece.

‘This must be hard for you guys,’ Resnick said. ‘I gather DI Prentiss was popular among his colleagues.’

‘Indeed he was,’ Drummond said. ‘He took today off so that he could pick his wife and baby up from the hospital.’

‘Will you want to speak to her, sir?’

Drummond nodded. ‘Of course. I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, though.’

‘I’ll come with you, guv,’ I said. ‘Karen knows me. We’ve met a couple of times.’

Just then my phone pinged with an incoming text. I was going to ignore it because I assumed it was Aidan checking to see where I was. But then a similar sound came from Drummond’s pocket, and he said, ‘Let’s hope it’s a coincidence.’

A moment later we discovered that it wasn’t: the same message had been sent to both of us.

21

Slack