Are you insinuating that’s what coppers do? Sally smiled sweetly at the man, who was in his late fifties. “I can see that, Doctor. We’re also under a huge amount of stress at our end. The quicker we get those results and act upon them, the quicker we’ll get a murderer off the streets. He’s now killed three women to our knowledge. That doesn’t sit well in my conscience. Not sure if it would in yours, either.”

“You’re right—it doesn’t. You have my word that the results will be with you by the end of the day, five o’clock at the latest. Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a vast backlog of samples to work our way through.”

“Of course. Thank you.”

Sally and Jack left the lab. Sally kicked out at a waste bin in the car park. “Damn. That didn’t exactly go according to plan, did it?”

“What now?” Jack asked, looking as pissed off as she felt.

“Lunch, I guess, and plenty of it. I’ll treat us to fish and chips. How’s that sound to you?”

“Like you want me to fall asleep at my desk this afternoon.”

“Maybe a little excessive then, given the time of day. Okay, we’ll settle for a pasty from the baker’s. How’s that?”

“Better.”

They stopped off at the baker’s closest to the station, where Sally, feeling in one of her more generous moods, bought all the team lunches consisting of a pasty and a can of pop.

Once they’d eaten, Sally called the team around the whiteboard, and they spent the next hour recapping what little information they’d dug up, adding into the mix Alexina’s former choice of career. “We need to check to see if the other two girls ever went down that route, too, discreetly, of course.”

“How do you suggest we do that? We don’t have many family members available to question.” Jack frowned.

Sally knew he had a point—all the victims had few family members. “Let’s use our research capabilities on that one, Jack, okay? See if either woman has been arrested in the past for prostitution or, for that matter, reported anyone stalking them.”

He shrugged. “I’ll get onto it now.”

Sally smiled tautly at her partner. “Anyone else have any suggestions as to what we should be delving into next?”

The team all looked at her blankly. She’d never worked such a frustrating case in all her years on the force. Having vital evidence to hand but being unable to access or use it had never really fallen into her lap before. That underlying fact was torturing her the most. She left the team to go over everything they had dealt with during the last week and walked into her office to tackle paperwork relating to the cases she’d successfully brought to a conclusion in the past month. Lost in her work late into the afternoon, Sally jumped when the phone on her desk rang.

“DI Parker.”

“Inspector, this is the technician at the lab. I have the results ready for you.”

Sally’s heart began to gallop. “That’s excellent news. Can you fax it through to me?”

“Of course. Do you have the number? I’m sorry for the delay. Too many cases piled in at the same time.”

She gave him the fax number then said, “Not to worry. We have it now. I’m looking forward to seeing the results.”

“Sending it through now. Goodbye, Inspector.”

Sally pushed back her chair and rushed over to the fax machine. A lifetime passed before the sheet of paper appeared from the slot in the machine. She snatched it up and read the name aloud. “Les Dorling.”

She rushed into the incident room, waving the sheet of paper in her hand. “We’ve got it. I want everyone on this ASAP. Get me anything and everything you can find on a Les Dorling. According to this, the reason we were able to match a name to the DNA found on the victims is because he’s a convicted rapist. I want to know when he came out of prison, where he lives, what car he drives. If he’s got a job, I want to know where he works. And I want all that by the end of our shift.”

“Are we going to pick him up tonight?” Jack asked.

Sally nodded. “That’s the plan, partner. Do you have a problem with that?”

“No. Just asking. I thought it would be better to grab him tonight rather than risk him going out on the prowl again, on the lookout for his next victim.”

“That’s what I thought, too. Get me his address first, and we’ll shoot off and pick him up, Jack, while the rest of the team try to find any other info that links him to our case.”

Twenty minutes later, Sally and Jack arrived at the suspect’s address. He was staying at a small bed and breakfast in a less-salubrious part of Norwich. Sally asked the rough-looking woman behind the reception desk if Dorling was in.

“He is. Who wants to know?” she responded tartly.

Sally flashed her warrant card. “DI Sally Parker and DS Jack Blackman. What room is he in?”

“You can’t just barge in here and pester my guests.”

“We’re hardly barging in, and unless your guests have something to hide, we’re entitled to talk to anyone we care to speak to. Now, what room is he in?”

“Number ten,” the woman responded with a scowl.

“Thanks. Don’t bother trying to warn him we’re on our way, either. We have this place surrounded.” Sally had gone up against dubious guesthouse owners in the past. The woman looked beyond Sally at the street through the glazed door, no doubt trying to see if more officers were outside the B&B.

“I don’t want no trouble. What’s he done?”

“Nothing yet. We just want a friendly chat with him. Is it this way?” Sally pointed up the flight of stairs in front of them.

“Yep, the only stairs we have. Go to the top and turn right. It’s the door at the end you want.”

“Thanks.” Sally walked casually up the stairs with Jack behind her. Once they got to the top, they walked briskly past the rest of the rooms. She knocked lightly on the door to Dorling’s room.

The door swung open, and the man eyed the detectives cautiously. “Yeah?”

“Les Dorling?”

“That’s right.”

Sally stepped aside and let Jack barge into the room. He knocked the man to the floor, pulled his hands behind his back, and slapped on the cuffs. Jack read the man his rights. “We’re arresting you for the murder of Brenda Fisher. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” the man asked, jostling against Jack.

“Let’s go.” Rather than argue, Sally walked out of the room, leaving Jack to force the man to his feet. She could hear Dorling still trying to resist arrest, but she turned a blind eye to Jack’s manhandling him through the building and out to the car. “Give it a rest, Dorling.”

Jack opened the back door, urged the suspect into his seat, then squashed in beside him.

“I ain’t done nothin’ wrong. I’m telling you—you’ve made a mistake.”

“We’ll see about that. Now sit still and shut up,” Sally warned, pulling away from the guesthouse.

At the station, Jack and Sally left the suspect with the duty sergeant and a couple of constables.

“Let me know when you’ve booked him in, Sergeant. I’ll be upstairs,” Sally said.

Sally and Jack ran upstairs to the incident room.

“We’ve got him,” she announced as soon as she burst through the door to the office. “What have you found out about him?”

Joanna was the first to speak. “He’s been out of prison since February this year, boss. Served four years for raping an eighteen-year-old girl. He swore he was innocent, but the DNA proved he was lying.”

“Why am I not surprised about that? He’s just denied he didn’t know Brenda Fisher in the car. I haven’t tackled him about Maddie Webster yet, as we’re still awaiting clarification on the results on that, although the pathologist’s initial findings have already linked the two crimes. It doesn’t really matter, because we have enough against him already. What about his car? Does he have one?”