‘No,’ he says. ‘It was in Cumbria. Cumbria police had jurisdiction. They called in Scotland Yard, which is why the file crossed my desk. I remember it because the crime scene photographs were …’ He breaks off, shuddering at the memory before glancing my way and obviously deciding not to share the details. ‘They found a glass angel at the crime scene,’ he adds.

Goosebumps cover my skin. I’m rooted to the spot. ‘What do you mean, a glass angel?’ I ask, although I already know.

Liam turns to me, grim-faced. ‘Like the one in the living room that I stood on earlier.’

I slump down into the nearest pew and put my head in my hands, dark spots dancing before my eyes. I try to draw in a breath, but my lungs feel too tight.

‘I didn’t think about it until now,’ Liam goes on. ‘It rang a bell, but I didn’t put two and two together until’ – he gestures at the photograph – ‘I saw that picture.’

I glance at him, feeling the cold hand of terror grip hold of my insides and start squeezing.

‘It was never confirmed that the suspect left it behind,’ Liam says. ‘But there was one found on the kitchen table at the crime scene. As if he’d positioned it there to watch.’

‘To watch what?’ I ask, almost too terrified to hear him answer.

‘What he did to them,’ Liam murmurs.

I swallow what feels like a twig that’s lodged in my throat, my heart smashing loudly in my ears. ‘What did he do to them?’ I hear myself ask. I don’t really know if I want to know the answer, but I need to.

Liam frowns, looking pained, as though he doesn’t want to tell me.

‘Tell me!’ I hiss at him.

He takes a breath and then lets it out in a loud exhalation. ‘He killed them. We think he tortured the guy first – his name was Will – and that he made Mia watch. Then he dumped their bodies in a ditch.’ He says it without any emotion, but I’m sure, judging from the expression on his face, that he’s holding back the gruesome details.

‘And the police never found out who did it?’ I ask.

‘No,’ Liam admits. ‘Whoever it was got away with it.’

‘How?’

‘He was smart. There was no evidence left at the scene of the crime. Not a trace of anyone. It was a mystery.’

‘Why would someone do that?’

Liam shakes his head. ‘Who knows? I had a theory that he was in love with Mia. He thought she belonged to him and when he saw her with another man, he got angry. She betrayed him, so he punished her.’