‘But I would want to protect everyone else,’ Gary said.

‘He’s not a danger to everyone else,’ Adrian said, even though the video in front of him said otherwise. Who was Adrian trying to convince? ‘What else did you find on the computer?’

‘A lot of stuff. If Gillian Mitchell wasn’t actually in charge, then she was the next best thing. She had an external hard drive that was found when they searched her place. There were a lot of files on it that I hadn’t got from any of the other victims. I have to turn all this over into evidence once I catalogue it. I made a start last night, but I wanted to make sure you heard it from me first. And there’s something else I wanted to show you.’

‘Great.’

Adrian could feel Gary’s disapproval and he didn’t like it. He understood and respected Gary’s point of view, but he didn’t like being at odds with him, even though he couldn’t change the way he felt any more than Gary could change his views.

Gary put his laptop on an empty hot desk, the ones they used for visiting staff. He plonked himself in the chair and pulled up another video; it was the high street late at night. This time the footage came from a camera phone. The video followed a young man in a hood as he walked. The person holding the camera stopped and kept filming as the other man ran across the road. Adrian recognised the area in town and then he saw himself, just before the camera zoomed in on the younger man swiping an open claw across his face and then punching him to the ground. Adrian got up and threw a couple of swings himself before he gave chase, but then the video stopped.

‘That video is time- and date-stamped and completely exonerates you of any wrongdoing in the Watts attack. I suspect the DCI might want to release this to the press after we catch this Beacham guy, as there are still some people who are calling for your job.’

‘You should have started with this video.’ Adrian tried not to sound pissy.

‘There’s barely a glimpse of the guy’s face as his friend filmed him from behind, but I am trying to get an ID. Now let’s have a look for this bloody car.’ Gary typed in the reg number to see if there had been any notifications on it over the last few weeks. ‘I’ll get on to traffic and see if they have anything.’

‘I’ll check with the university and see if it’s on any of the campuses.’

‘I’ll do it,’ Gary said, the knot in centre of his forehead visibly tightening.

‘It’s fine, you’ve obviously got enough on your plate. Sorry if I expect too much of you.’

Adrian felt guilty; maybe he did ask Gary for too much. He never usually seemed to mind; in fact, Adrian thought he liked it.

‘God, it’s not that. I’m just worried that you and Imogen are in over your heads. I don’t know why you think you can trust this Parker guy, but you shouldn’t. What he’s doing in those videos shows a complete lack of empathy or human feeling. He’s doing it because he enjoys it. Maybe it’s all about justice for now, but what happens when he runs out of bad people to dissect? Those urges don’t just go away.’