‘For all we know, one of these dead blokes might have abused the killer’s own kid. I know that I’d finish anyone who tried something like that with Sophie.’

Woods massaged the back of his neck with his hand. His dark eyes stared hard at Collins, looking right through her. He finally spoke. ‘I can’t say I don’t have some sympathy with you, but you know it’s not our choice, it’s not our call. Our job is to catch whoever is responsible for these killings and then put them in front of a jury. If they decide this person is a hero, deserves a medal or a massive payout from public funds, then that’s up to them, not us.

‘You’re assuming that Miller was guilty. Those allegations could have been false for all we know. And there’s still nothing to suggest that Chadwick or the other guy had any link to sex crimes.

‘Anyway, regardless of how we feel about this person’s victims, the fact remains that people are not allowed to take the law into their own hands. There lies anarchy. Remember David Copeland, the London nail bomber? The first week he targeted the black community, then the Asian community. After that he bombed a gay pub and was planning to bomb a Jewish area when he was caught. So he’s going after paedophiles at the moment but what will happen when he gets through with them? Suppose he moves on to rapists, then murderers, then adulterers, then liars? Where will it all stop?’

Collins shrugged. ‘But you can’t tell me that you seriously think that all people like that deserve to live, can you?’

‘You’re saying you want to bring back capital punishment?’

‘For some offences, yes, I think I would.’

‘But people make mistakes, people make false accusations, some people even have false memories. Once you’ve executed someone, murdered them in the name of the state, you can’t take it back. I could never live with that on my conscience if I ever found out I’d got it wrong. It would be as bad as if I’d killed them myself.’

‘I don’t know, Tony. I know there’s an argument that these people are sick and they can’t help themselves, but you could say that about anyone involved in crime. Anyway, you don’t understand the emotions that are involved because you don’t have children.’

Woods snorted with disapproval. ‘That’s rubbish. You don’t have to have direct experience of anything to be able to empathize. And, while I may not have children myself, I have been a child. I know what it’s like to be that innocent and to place all your trust and love in a parent or carer. I know how vulnerable that can make someone and how easy it would be for someone to abuse that.’

‘Remember too that most abusers have been abused themselves as children, and a significant proportion of those that they abuse will go on to abuse others. It’s not black and white. Even the ones who start out as innocent victims might go on to become offenders in years to come.

‘At the end of the day, the law is the law and it exists for a reason. You can’t go around making exceptions from the rule every time it suits you. It’s only a short step before you start bringing in other crimes with a death penalty. Every case is judged on its merits. That’s what the whole jury trial system is about. If there are extenuating circumstances, they can be explored and adjustments made if necessary. You can’t get rid of principles like that, not in my mind.’

Collins could not think of a strong enough reply. Woods had a point and he had made it well. If anything it made her even less happy with the situation. ‘Whatever,’ she mumbled.

She paused for a moment and stared at the floor in front of her. ‘What do you think of that Dr Bernard?’

Woods made an indistinct noise in reply. Not so much a word, more of a grunt.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘I dunno. Something about the guy. Gives me the creeps.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, anyone who’s that obsessed with the workings of the mind of a serial killer, anyone who’s that encyclopaedic about the different things different deranged people have done to their victims – well, it’s not exactly normal, is it?’

‘You just don’t like anyone who knows more about psychology than you do.’

‘As if such a person exists. Why do you ask anyway? What did you think of him?’

‘A lot of what he said was the usual crap, but some of it seemed to make sense. I thought he was all right. Quite nice, really.’

Woods eyed her cautiously. ‘I think Yvonne and that civvy data clerk were planning to form a fan club. Perhaps you could be club secretary. I’ve got a mate who could do you a good deal on starting up a blog …’

Collins didn’t have time to tell Woods to piss off. At that moment the door to the office opened and a secretary looked over at them. ‘Mr Johnson will see you now,’ she said softly.

Brian Johnson was the short, bespectacled head of operations for ViSOR. With his slightly flared suit, his full-face beard and weak, ineffectual handshake, he looked, Collins thought, like the sort of stereotypical bloke who should actually be on the register rather than running it.

His voice had a slightly nasal sing-song quality to it, and Collins could feel herself taking an instant dislike to the man. It was probably, she told herself, more to do with the situation she had been forced into than the man himself, but even at the best of times Johnson was not the kind of person she would have been able to warm to.

He led them into his comfortable office, sat them on the small dark leather corner suite and offered them coffee or water. When they refused both, he too sat down and clasped his hands.

‘I understand the basics of your case but it’s probably best if you go from the beginning so I can work out how best to assist you.’

Collins leaned forward. ‘We’re currently investigating a triple murder case. The three bodies were found at one location but the indicators are that they were killed months, possibly even years apart.

‘One of the victims had been accused on numerous occasions of sexual assault on a minor. There was a degree of genital mutilation in all three victims, and we’re exploring the possibility that the killings may have been some kind of revenge attack.’

‘Are the two other victims believed to be sex offenders?’

‘There is no evidence that we have been able to uncover in the case of the most recent victim, Raymond Chadwick. As for the other one, we have yet to identify him at all. We didn’t get a match for his DNA on the database, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.’

Johnson was listening intently to her words. ‘Are you thinking that this might be some sort of vigilante action? The parent of an abused child perhaps?’

‘That’s clearly a possibility. At this point in time, however, we’re more interested in learning if there are any more potential victims out there. We were hoping you could provide us with a list of sex offenders who have gone missing in recent years so that we can see if any of them match the person we have yet to identify.’

‘It’s a bit of a long shot, isn’t it? Surely if they were convicted, you’d already have a DNA sample on file.’

‘The point is, Mr Johnson,’ said Collins, her jaw tightening with impatience, ‘our boss doesn’t like to leave any stone unturned. The three bodies we found were deliberately left out in a public place. This was an intentional act. We have every reason to believe that there may be far more bodies out there, including those of convicted paedophiles. What we’re here to do is attempt to narrow down just who some of those victims might actually be.’

‘Of course. I understand.’

‘Well, then, now that you know all about our case, why don’t you tell us about the system, so we don’t waste too much of your time? Or ours. How many names are on the register?’

Johnson nodded and smiled warmly. ‘Just over forty thousand.’

‘What’s the compliance rate?’ asked Woods.