Mark, to his credit, seemed to have taken her words the previous evening to heart. He’d seemed genuinely pacified when she looked him in the eye and told him she wasn’t keeping any secrets. She, on the other hand, felt dreadful for her lies. But her concern right now wasn’t for herself.

She’d come home that day to find a selection of snacks and drinks waiting for her in the ‘fun’ fridge, as they called it, in the garage. Mark had been into town and stocked up on treats from a few of the local independent shops, as well as some Grainstore ciders — a special treat for a warm evening. Fortunately for Caroline, she felt able to stomach cider that evening. Red wine was still very much off the cards.

She’d tried to engage with the boys after work, and listened intently as Archie and Josh told her about their days at school — Archie more passionately than Josh, but Josh was already fast becoming a teenager before his years.

A part of her wondered whether she’d been wrong to take on the case. She couldn’t even keep a coherent and related string of thoughts, so how could she give her all to a murder investigation? She felt she’d lost her direction. She’d gone so far down the path of the religious motive, and she was now left questioning its validity. She’d honed in on Patrick Walsh, not enough to find any evidence or reason to arrest him, but just enough to spook him and allow him to potentially cover his tracks.

That had been her biggest worry. Timing was often the most important aspect of any police investigation. The first twenty-four hours were often known as the ‘golden period’. Major progress within that time period greatly increased the chances of success. But once the first twenty-four hours were over, success rates fell off a cliff. The timing of arrests needed to be carefully done, too. Whilst it was true they could arrest anyone without real reason — and many Senior Investigating Officers considered this to be beneficial as it meant statements made by the arrested person were admissible in court under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act — Caroline took a more cautious approach. She’d learned from experience that moving too quickly could be as dangerous as moving too slowly, especially if a suspect was arrested, then released because of a lack of evidence at the end of their twenty-four-hour custody period, only to then go missing or commit further crimes.

These sorts of decisions were second nature to her. They weren’t something she ever really thought about — not consciously, anyway. It was almost reflexive. But now, for the first time in many years, she found herself thinking more strategically and carefully about it. It was as if the instincts had gone, the automatic reflexive decisions weren’t firing and she had to actually think things through.