The hospital was busy, and by the time they found DI Walsh, visiting hours had begun. DI Matt Walsh stood with his arms folded, staring ahead of him. Adrian couldn’t help but look at Imogen’s face as they approached him, to see if he could work out what she was thinking. She had seemed preoccupied with finding out more about the new DI and for some reason that annoyed Adrian. He couldn’t admit to himself that he was feeling jealous.

‘What’s going on?’ Imogen called out, getting the DI’s attention.

‘A girl has been brought in. She’s in and out of it a bit, but she’s been completely brutalised,’ DI Walsh said.

‘Sexual assault?’ Imogen asked.

‘It seems highly likely at this point; I’m just waiting for the doctor to come and give me a clearer picture of what happened.’

‘Do we know who she is?’ Adrian asked.

‘Barely. I mean, you wouldn’t know it from her face; she has a lot of swelling and several nasty abrasions.’ DI Walsh seemed to stop dead in his tracks, obviously noticing the state of Adrian’s own appearance. ‘What happened to you?’

‘I got mugged last night, nothing serious though, I’m fine.’

‘You don’t look fine. Are you OK?’

‘Yeah, seriously. I managed to swing a couple of punches, so he didn’t get anything. Really, it’s no big deal. I’ll file a report on it later on, I was planning on it anyway, but I don’t have much information at all.’ Adrian wanted to stop talking about it now. ‘Tell us about the girl.’

‘She managed to tell us her name, but her throat is pretty damaged; looks like he strangled her. My guess is whoever did this is going to be very disappointed when they realise she didn’t die. She was beaten so badly, there’s no way they intended her to walk away from that.’

‘You said she told you her name?’ Imogen said.

‘Caitlin Watts.’

‘What?’ Imogen shot Adrian a look again.

‘You know her?’

‘We had her on a B and E the other day; all turned out to be fine though,’ Adrian said, his voice catching a little as he spoke. What the hell was going on?

‘Did she say if she felt like she was in danger from anyone?’ Matt Walsh asked.

‘No, not at all. She was in yesterday and she was fine,’ Adrian said.

‘So, you saw her yesterday?’ DI Walsh pressed.

‘She knew the professor; she came in to give us more information on the Norris case,’ Imogen explained.

‘She was the witness who came forward? Do you think this attack could be linked to the murder? Did she give you any indication who she thought might have killed Doctor Norris?’ DI Walsh asked.

‘No, but she was the one who told us about the kid who committed suicide. Owen Sager,’ Imogen said.

‘I dropped her off at home at around six and she was fine,’ Adrian added.

‘You dropped her off at home?’ DI Walsh queried, and there was an element of derision in his voice that Adrian didn’t like.