‘This is not your fault in any way, Mrs Sager,’ Imogen said.

‘I wish I could help more. I’m sorry,’ she said, her eyes glassy and her voice fragmented.

‘You’ve been a great help,’ Adrian offered.

‘Did he ever talk about Doctor Norris?’ Imogen asked.

‘He really liked him, at least he did at first, talked about him all the time.’

‘That changed?’ Imogen pressed.

‘Now that you mention it, it did a little. I guess, as the time went on, the work got harder and Owen lost his shine for Doctor Norris. I just didn’t really think about it.’

‘Did they fall out?’ Adrian asked.

‘No, Doctor Norris was nothing but kind to Owen. Owen got in because Doctor Norris endorsed his application to the university even though he didn’t quite get the correct grades, and he also sent a letter recommending Owen for a full scholarship. He got turned down, but he did get a twenty per cent reduction in fees. Which was great.’

‘So, they had a close relationship, then?’ Imogen asked.

‘I know it sounds a bit unconventional, but Owen was so worried about starting at the uni, especially with his lower than average score, and Doctor Norris was really kind to him and took him under his wing. Before you say anything, there was nothing seedy going on. He was just a nice man.’

Adrian and Imogen’s phones went off simultaneously. Imogen pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen. A text alert from the DCI. She wanted them at the hospital immediately.

‘Thank you, Mrs Sager, we had best be going now,’ Imogen said. ‘Here’s my card, call us if you think of anything.’ Imogen put her card in the palm of Mrs Sager’s hand and closed both hands around it. ‘So sorry for your loss.’

‘Thank you, dear.’ She attempted to smile and stepped back into the house, closing the door behind her.

Adrian blew his cheeks out, obviously feeling the woman’s pain. ‘God, I can’t even imagine,’ he said.

‘Let’s get to the hospital,’ Imogen said, knowing full well that Adrian could imagine it – his son had come close to being killed in a previous case and it almost destroyed him.

They got back in the car and made their way across town to meet the DCI. Imogen couldn’t help looking at the scrapes on his knuckles and wondering if he was telling the truth about being mugged. It certainly wasn’t the first time he had shown up to work with unexplained cuts and bruises. She reminded herself he had no reason to lie. Did he?

Chapter Eight

Adrian couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Mrs Sager’s face. He remembered back to the time recently when he’d thought his own son was dead, and the visceral memory of the way he’d felt, even for the briefest of times, was enough to make him want to throw up. But to live in that state, to know that you would never see your child again – that would be too much for Adrian. He wasn’t sure he would even want to carry on.