‘Do you think he was interested in you … sexually?’

‘No, that wasn’t it. I felt like I was being groomed for something, I’m not sure what. Coley made me very uncomfortable though and I have learned to trust my instincts about people. I mentioned it to Parker and I think he did some background checking.’

‘And then killed him. What did he find?’

‘I didn’t see him after that; he left me a note telling me not to worry. Then a few weeks later I found this note for you posted through my door.’

‘So, you’ve had no contact with him since it started?’

‘No. But I am scared. I don’t want him to go to prison. He doesn’t deserve it.’

‘That’s debateable.’ Adrian tried to ignore the rising panic inside him. Was there any way out of this? What concerned him the most was that Imogen would get in trouble too, never mind himself. It was never as simple as just making that one decision to break the law, it was all the lies that came after, all the other decisions that just pushed you further and further into a corner.

‘Whatever is going on, they must have done something to deserve it,’ Abbey pressed.

‘That’s not really up to him.’

‘I’ll make him promise never to hurt anyone again. I can’t do this alone,’ she said, immediately holding onto her pregnant stomach.

‘When are you due?’

‘Seven weeks.’

‘Look, I won’t do anything just yet. I’ll have to speak to my partner first. How do I get in touch with you?’

‘I’ll contact you with a number you can reach me on.’

Adrian stood up and opened the door, adrenaline coursing through him. There was no time to spare. Yet again he was watching this woman walk away, knowing she had answers but feeling powerless to stop her. It was almost the same as the last time he had met her. She had provided him with information back then that blew his case wide open. Photographs of historic abuse against her husband and the motive for his crimes. Now that Adrian knew Parker was involved, the case filled him with a strong feeling of dread. God only knew what horrors they would see before it was over.

He followed her to the exit and watched her walk out of the station and across the forecourt until she disappeared out of view. The further away she got, the harder his heart beat until he could hear it echoing in his ears.

‘You all right, Miley? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’ Imogen was standing behind him eating a bar of chocolate from the vending machine in the corridor.

He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to the room where he had been talking to Abbey.

‘You’re hurting my arm, what’s going on? Who was that?’

Adrian felt winded – the full repercussions of what he had done just over a year ago were coming back to bite him in the backside after all. He tried to speak, but he couldn’t think of how to tell Imogen what was going on. This was massive, and somehow, he felt paranoid even trying to explain it in the station.