‘Thank you, Father. I am sorry for these and all the sins of my past life; for not loving others and not loving you. Help me not to sin again. Amen.’

Adrian recited the act of contrition the way he remembered it, the robotic repetition he had uttered so many times, the words feeling familiar but somehow both insincere and more meaningful at the same time. He hoped this would help, he didn’t know what else to do. He had to get back to his real life. Maybe this would wipe the slate clean and let him start over again.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Imogen waited in the briefing room for the others to arrive. She had been feeling increasingly alone since Adrian hadn’t been at work – her relationships with the other people at the station highlighted for what they weren’t. She was worried about Adrian almost constantly. Sick with the feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling her. She always knew when she was being lied to.

But Adrian wasn’t like other people. He had more hang-ups and complexes than anyone she had ever met before, so this could all just be a side of him she had never seen before. She was already too dependent on him. They bounced off of each other well and without his voice there, she seemed unsure where to look next in terms of the case. She found herself having conversations with him in her head, but when she saw him, he never seemed to want to talk about the case.

The doors opened before she had a chance to wallow any further. Matt Walsh, Gary Tunney and DCI Kapoor all sat down and waited for Imogen to start.

‘We’ve got nothing, basically. Nothing concrete, anyway. Lots of hearsay but no actual evidence of any wrongdoing. I am still trying to find Clive Osborne, but it’s like he disappeared off the face of the earth,’ Imogen said.

‘Angela Corrigan had nothing else useful to say about him, then?’ DCI Kapoor said.

‘Just that they were meant to leave together and he never showed up. No one reported him missing,’ Imogen said.

‘Three guesses why,’ Walsh said.

‘Well, the old Corrigan Construction head office in Shropshire has been levelled and turned into a car park about three years ago. If anyone was buried around there they would have been found; the car park goes underground for three levels,’ Gary offered.

‘What about their previous residence?’ DCI Kapoor said.

‘The owners are away in New York on holiday at the moment. They come back in a couple of weeks. We don’t have enough to compel a search warrant at this point, so we just have to wait,’ Walsh said.

‘No one else has access?’ DCI Kapoor said.