‘How sure are you that the body was identified correctly? It was all based on clothes, wasn’t it?’

‘We’re not,’ he said. ‘We tried dental records, but life on the streets had taken their toll. He’d lost three at the front, a couple at the back, and when we asked Shane’s mother she said that he’d stopped going to the dentist after he was told to wear braces when he was thirteen.’

‘Was there anything unusual about the body?’

There was a pause as Sandy thought back on what he’d found out so far. ‘Not really. Apart from the gag.’

The hairs rose on Laura’s arms.

‘Gag?’

‘A cloth, jammed into his mouth. I suppose it muffled the screams, and because it soaked up plenty of petrol, the fire burned pretty badly around the face.’

Laura rubbed her eyes. Her mind was still moving slowly, but she could work out the significance of what she had been told.

‘Laura, what is it?’ she heard Sandy say, but she still left it a few more seconds.

‘It might be that you have to prioritise again,’ Laura said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I don’t think your corpse is Shane Grix,’ she said. ‘I think Shane Grix may be the person who killed him.’

Sandy whistled. ‘At least we’ve got a name now.’

‘You always had the name, except the wrong way round,’ she said. ‘And once you discover who was actually killed, you might have a family who’ll make more problems for you than Shane’s did.’

The drive to the police station took Jack through the centre of Blackley, and as he passed the courthouse, he spotted David Hoyle’s car.

Jack didn’t often go to court on Saturdays, as Saturday cases were overnighters only, and were either so serious that the end of the case was a long way off, or else so trivial, like late-night drunkenness, that they didn’t really deserve any ink in the first place. He decided to make an exception, so he could corner Hoyle again.

He pulled into the space next to Hoyle’s car and jammed the meter with whatever small change he had left, and then walked quickly up the court steps.

The corridor was quiet; it always was on Saturdays. The lawyers wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible, and so the only people who ever hung around were relatives of the prisoners. Except that it wasn’t as quiet as normal, because David Hoyle was sitting at the end of the corridor, leaning forward, staring at the floor.

He didn’t look up as Jack approached, although he must have realised who it was, because as Jack sat down next to him, he said, ‘If you want a quote, you won’t get one.’ His voice was quiet and forlorn.

Jack remembered the email from the night before. Hoyly Moyly. It was time for some guesswork, because the poem had to mean something. Oh Angel, why did you scream?

‘How’s Angel?’ Jack said. ‘Is she okay?’

Hoyle looked up, surprised. ‘What do you mean?’ He had none of the arrogance of their usual meetings.

‘I heard that she had a close call last night.’

Hoyle said nothing at first, and so Jack wasn’t sure if his bluff had worked, but then Hoyle looked down again and said, ‘How did you know?’

‘It’s a small town, Mr Hoyle. Rumours spread quickly.’

‘Well, nothing happened, okay. There’s nothing to say, nothing to report, and if you write otherwise, I’ll sue you.’

‘Is Angel your girlfriend?’

Hoyle sat up and leaned back in his seat. He folded his arms.

Jack nodded his understanding. ‘Okay, thank you, Mr Hoyle. But tell me this: why are you here, and not with her, telling the police all about it?’

Hoyle ground his teeth and didn’t respond.

‘Are you so far gone that you look to serve Don before you protect your girlfriend?’ Jack said, shaking his head. ‘You’ve lost your way, Mr Hoyle.’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Don’t I? What, that women are dying, and if your girlfriend saw something, she might help the police catch him? But you would rather look after your client than help prevent another murder. So what don’t I know, Mr Hoyle? You tell me.’

Hoyle let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes. He looked tired. ‘Where did you hear about Angel?’ he said.

‘Just something I heard, and I saw the look on your face last night, like you had been dragged too close to something that was out of your comfort zone.’

Hoyle clenched his jaw. ‘What the fuck does that mean?’

‘You’re a courtroom player. You can control what happens in there, because you know the rules, the tricks. That’s how you deal with Don, because when he has to come here, or his men get charged, they are visiting your world, and you’re in charge.’

Jack waited for the smart response, but as he looked into Hoyle’s eyes, Jack just saw fatigue and worry, the fear that the evil of the world had come to him.

Hoyle looked down again.

‘Talk to the police, David,’ Jack said. ‘Don’s got no loyalty towards you. If he didn’t use you, he’d use someone else.’

There was a pause, and then Hoyle said, ‘But I want him to do it, to catch the killer, and that’s what I hate about it. I care about the rules. Do you know that?’ Jack didn’t respond, and so he carried on, his voice rising a notch. ‘I know you think people like me just try to weasel our way out of the rules, but it is still about the rules. It gives everything order.’

‘Except that you are not sure whether you want this person to have that chance,’ Jack said.

Hoyle looked him straight in the eye. ‘I know what he did to Don’s daughter,’ he said. ‘Any gaps that Don left out were filled in by you in your article, and I can’t stand the thought that he could have done that to Angel.’

‘So why are you here?’ Jack said.

He looked around and shrugged. ‘Because it’s what I know, this place,’ he said.

‘But who is looking after Angel now?’

‘She’s at home, alone,’ Hoyle said. ‘She insisted on it. Angel isn’t weak.’

‘If the police call, will she speak to them?’ Jack said.

Hoyle didn’t answer at first. Instead, he just chewed on his lip. Eventually, he said, ‘I don’t know.’

Jack spotted something in Hoyle’s voice, it sounded like fear, and then it dawned on him. ‘That’s really why you’re here, isn’t it?’ Jack said. ‘You haven’t told her who the intruder was, that it might be the same person who killed Jane Roberts, and you don’t know how to deal with it.’

Jack knew he’d hit home, because Hoyle looked up at the ceiling and clenched his jaw. After a few moments of silence, he shook his head and then got to his feet. ‘I’m going back into court,’ he said and wearily made his way along the corridor.

Chapter Fifty-One

Jack paced up and down outside the entrance to the police station, the print-out of the emails from the night before in his hand.

He turned around when he heard the large wooden doors swing open and smiled when he saw Laura. She walked over to him, returning the smile, although Jack thought she looked tired, her eyes red, the skin under them dark and puffy.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

She ran her hands over her face. ‘We’re just chasing this thing hard,’ she said. ‘We need to catch him.’

‘Look after yourself too.’

‘I will. It’s nice to see you. It seems like forever since we spent some real time together.’

‘I was going to say the same thing,’ he said.

‘Is this what this is about, that you want to see me?’

‘No, no, nothing to do with that,’ he said, and then he grinned. ‘It is good to see you though.’

She moved forward and kissed him softly on the lips. ‘You can have the rest later,’ she whispered. ‘For now, just tell me what you’re doing here.’

‘The emails,’ Jack said. ‘I’ve had some more.’

Laura’s eyes widened, alert now. ‘When, last night?’