The sobs got louder again but Scott was clearly trying to talk through them. ‘It’s all my fault. Oh God, it’s all my fault. I’m so sorry.’

Jessica looked at Cole, who gave a slight nod and they waited for Scott to quieten down again. ‘Are you okay, Scott?’ Jessica asked when he had.

‘Yes.’

‘Okay. I need you to tell me what happened with you and Nigel.’

Scott spilled everything, confirming pretty much everything Shaun Hogan had told them the previous day. He even took responsibility, saying he made up a story about seeing Nigel look at his girlfriend and admitting he had carried out most of the attack, pressuring his friends to join in. He spoke with very little interruption for over twenty minutes, Jessica just asking him to clarify a few points.

Maybe it wasn’t crucial to either of the investigations but at the end she felt she had to ask the question, if only for her own benefit. ‘Why did you do it, Scott?’

The fact he didn’t even need to think about it was chilling in itself, though the way he said it did at least sound remorseful. ‘It was something to do. Everyone knew he was just that weird guy who hung around and I thought it would be a laugh.’

All of this because some kid wanted something to do, thought Jessica.

‘Why him?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know. He was just there. Everyone knew he was a bit weird. There wasn’t a reason.’

‘Is there anything else?’

‘No . . . just . . . I don’t know why it happened. I was different then, angrier. Dad had left and . . . I just don’t know. I’m so sorry.’ He swallowed another sob before continuing. ‘I’ve thought about it every night since but, at the time, I couldn’t stop myself. I was hoping everything was over, going to uni and all . . .’

Jessica almost hated herself for the twinge of sorrow she felt for him. He had done something horrendous and unforgivable years previously and made it worse by coercing his friends into it too and covering everything up. But she could tell from the way he spoke that he genuinely had agonised over it in the years since. Scott would only have been thirteen at the time and now, years on, all these lives had been ripped apart.

Cole stepped in and formally charged Scott Keegan with attempted murder. The feeling was the charges would be revised down to grievous bodily harm before it got to court as there was no Nigel Collins to give evidence. They still had all the medical details on file from years before, plus the confession. It would be up to the CPS to decide. There would be a media release later to explain the link and Scott would be up in front of magistrates in the morning. Jonathan Prince and James Christensen had been arrested within the hour and would most likely join him whether they confessed or not; the evidence they had from Scott would be enough to charge them. Shaun Hogan might or might not appear via video link, Jessica didn’t know. Given the fact they would all be feeling responsible for the murder of one of their parents, Jessica fully expected Jonathan and James to confess too.

What a mess.

Cole had gone to pass on the news to Aylesbury that they had a confession, while Jessica headed off to the main floor to see if any progress had been made on finding Nigel Collins. She couldn’t help but feel they had traded in not knowing who the killer was to simply having no idea where to find him. There had been no luck with tracking down extra photos. Two members of staff from the children’s home had been found but they had no mementoes and no idea who else would have anything. His previous schools had been visited and, though year photos he should have been in had been discovered, he wasn’t in any of them. Jessica didn’t think it was a surprise given the way he had been ostracised.

She did laugh when someone told her one of the officers had been in contact with the Herald to check their archives relating to the car crash that killed Nigel’s parents, just in case there was a photo of him as an eleven-year-old. There wasn’t of course but it was worth a try. She thought going to the paper would have simply given Garry Ashford another tip to follow up. From the Herald’s website that morning, she could see he had done well. Not only was there all the standard information everyone else had been given but he had somehow managed to get himself a chat with Kim Hogan. Jessica wondered how Garry had talked the girl around. It certainly seemed as if he’d had more success talking to her than she had.

Rowlands was bringing Wayne Lapham back to the station for a follow-up interview. They weren’t expecting to get anything in relation to knowing Nigel Collins but it had to be done. For obvious reasons, Jessica wouldn’t be taking part in that interview. She didn’t know if Peter Hunt would be present. The jury had gone out in Harry’s case the day before, so it seemed unlikely as he would still be at Crown Court waiting for a verdict. Besides, Wayne Lapham wasn’t likely to be getting all the media coverage, considering the press had Nigel Collins and his four torturers to focus on now.

Jessica started to make her way back to her own office but a constable stopped her before she could reach the door. ‘The DCI wants to see you,’ he said.

Jessica went up the stairs, knocking and entering her boss’s office. Cole was still there. Usually his face was hard to read as he gave so little away but, as she looked at him sitting in the chair across the desk from Aylesbury, she thought he looked angry. There were visible worry lines across his forehead and he was shaking his head. She had never seen him like that before.

‘Sir?’ she said, looking at the chief inspector.

Aylesbury told her to sit down too, his own look stern. Her boss took no time in cutting straight to the point as his first three words made her heart sink and instantly explained Cole’s expression. ‘Serious Crime Division.’

32

It had been something that had been in the back of Jessica’s mind pretty much since they first started working on the case. The Serious Crime Division always had it in their remit to step in and take on crimes of this magnitude, especially if solving it wasn’t proving too easy, but their timing was something that was hard to take. She and her team had already done the hard work – they had found the connection between the victims and knew almost certainly who the killer was. They had even solved a case from six years ago, albeit accidentally – but that wasn’t the point.

‘Why are they talking about this now?’ Jessica kept repeating.

Aylesbury let her vent all those feelings with very little response, nodding to show he was taking everything on board. Cole didn’t add anything but even he seemed sympathetic. Aylesbury did explain the decision was going to be taken by people higher up the chain of command than him and assured her he had done his best through his dealings with DSI Davies to put her very views across. She doubted they were exactly her views, given the amount of off-the-cuff swearing she had just pulled out.

As it stood, nothing had been decided for certain but he told her things would be sorted out within the next twenty-four hours and they would most likely have a decision by the morning. Jessica would have put a lot of money on knowing precisely what the outcome would be. Given it had already been a long day and everyone was left in something of a limbo, the DCI told them both they may as well go home. He was going to be in talks for the rest of the evening, while there was still a press release he wanted to draft along with the office. The only thing Jessica had to console herself with was that, if she stuck her foot down on the drive out of the station, she might strike lucky and get a cameraman or two under the wheels.