‘Only to the extent that the murder of an adult female following a home invasion rarely goes down like this, unless he was known to her. That could explain why he didn’t have to break into the house,’ Connie mused.

‘But none of his DNA has been found in any other room in the house. Why would she go to bed with a visitor on the premises, even someone she knew? If he was staying overnight, if he was her lover or an old family friend, we’d expect to find his DNA elsewhere.’

‘It’s going to remain a mystery until we catch this bastard, but if the entry was opportunistic, the invader would have been expecting other occupants. The fact that no one else was there means that he was likely armed with that information in advance.’

‘You think he stalked her,’ Baarda said.

‘The evidence suggests that he stalked her.’

‘So while the crime scene is chaotic, the offender himself may not be,’ Baarda noted.

‘Which makes Elspeth’s abduction a big leap forward. He made contact with her, convinced her to move her vehicle somewhere familiar to her but that was also unoccupied at the time. He must also have had a vehicle available. The spot of blood on the car door was close to being pure bad luck.’

‘So did he just plan the scenario with Elspeth better?’ Baarda asked.

Connie shrugged. ‘Criminals evolve. They adapt, hone their skills and perfect methodology, but this sort of leap is like humans skipping from tree-dwelling to building skyscrapers in a single generation.’

‘You don’t think that’s possible?’ Baarda asked.

‘I think it’s unlikely,’ Connie said. ‘A rapist will have flashed a woman first. A man who kills his partner will have been abusive over a period of time. But this’ – Connie pointed at the photo of Angela Fernycroft’s bedroom – ‘feels clumsy and amateurish. It’s a disaster that resembles a first offence by a psychotic teenager. And yet Elspeth Dunwoody disappeared into thin air. How did he get from A to Z so fast? Something changed for him between Angela and Elspeth, more than just trial and error.’ She crossed her arms and shook her head at the photos. ‘Then there’s the twenty-pound note. Did you read the file?’

‘I did. There’s not a lot of content, given there’s no evidence a crime was committed. The disturbance the witness thought she heard could have been an episode in a mental health breakdown, drug-fuelled psychosis, an argument over territory or possessions between two homeless people. The fact that possessions were abandoned isn’t unusual. There’s no solid storyline, let alone a proper police complaint.’

‘And yet the same DNA is on file.’

‘You have a theory?’ Baarda asked.