‘This is insane. What do you want?’ Coley’s eyes fixated on the shiny serrated edge.

‘What’s a laminectomy?’ Parker said, knowing it would strike a chord with Coley. He had been inside his house, seen his letters from the doctor. Robert Coley was waiting for confirmation of an appointment after seeing a specialist about his ongoing back problem. He was going to have a couple of the flat bones next to the spine removed in order to stop the pain he was experiencing.

‘How do you know about that?’

‘I’ve been watching you for a while now; you gave Abbey the creeps and I had to find out why.’

‘I’ll leave her alone. I won’t tell anyone you broke in here.’

‘No, you won’t. But you will tell me what’s going on. Who are these candidates? What do you want them for?’

‘I can’t tell you that.’

‘Why is that? You’re not worried about what I will do to you?’

‘I’m dead if I speak to you, so it doesn’t really matter.’

‘Death is the least of your worries. If you don’t tell me what I need to know, you will be begging me to take your life.’

‘I can’t run, and I can’t tell you what is going on. What you do is up to you.’ Robert Coley seemed to resign to it too easily. Whatever he was afraid of had made the decision for him.

‘I found an article in your house, tucked away in one of your drawers. A student died a couple of years ago in freak car accident, he was driving the wrong way up the M4. Was that one of your students? Did that have anything to do with this?’

‘I can’t talk about it. Do what you have to do.’ Coley was resolved; even the threat of death didn’t have the desired effect.

Parker moved closer and pressed the blade against his neck. ‘I warn you, this won’t be pleasant.’

Parker punched Coley in the stomach with force. Coley recoiled but made no attempt to fight back. Coley’s behaviour was strange, and Parker couldn’t understand it. It was unusual for someone who had no guilt not to plead their way out of a situation. Was he doing the right thing? He had never hurt anyone without being absolutely certain of their guilt before, never without bearing witness to their crimes first-hand. He had a feeling something big was going on, something he needed to get to the bottom of. There was a trail of student deaths going back years, from suicides to car accidents – all seemingly random, and yet they couldn’t be. That in itself wasn’t proof enough of Coley’s involvement, but from what Parker had found during his investigation, at least one of his students every year could have been part of whatever was going on. Parker didn’t understand how or why Coley was doing this, but he would figure it out, hopefully before anyone else got hurt. This was no time for Parker to get a sudden attack of conscience, if that was even possible. He would get Coley to confess, even if he had to torture him to do it.