She wrapped the duvet around herself, picked up her clothes from the side of the bed and headed for the bathroom. When she returned, having showered and dressed, Jacques was still in his boxers. He was sitting at the tiny table unit, chewing a croissant and sipping from a steaming cup of coffee. A second croissant sat on a plate opposite him. She instantly became ravenous.

‘I guess it makes more sense for me to have this here,’ she said sitting down and reaching for the pastry. Jacques smiled, reached for a second coffee cup and filled it for her.

‘Suppose I want to see more of you,’ said Jacques.

‘I think last night you saw pretty much all there is to see.’

Stacey laughed at her own joke but stopped when she realized Jacques was being serious.

‘I know everything you said last night about wanting this to be on your own terms,’ he continued, ‘and I respect that. I totally respect that. But suppose it’s not enough for me. Suppose I want something more.’

‘We’ll just have to wait and see.’

‘Come on, Stacey, stop kidding yourself. There was a connection there the first time we met. We both felt it. Now, I don’t want to hear about what’s happened to you in the past. I know enough police officers to understand what a male-dominated world you work in and how tough it must be to get along on your merits rather than because of the old boys’ network, but that doesn’t mean you have to shut yourself off from everything else.’

Stacey held up a hand. ‘Stop. I don’t want to hear any of this. You don’t know me. Don’t try to fit me into some box. I don’t want to listen.’

‘Because the truth hurts. Because I’m getting to the truth, aren’t I?’ said Jacques, leaning forward. He was almost shouting now, shocking Stacey with his sudden outburst. ‘You think you can stop yourself from ever getting hurt by never opening up, by keeping all your emotions and feelings locked up tight inside you. But what you don’t realize is that by doing that, you’re only hurting yourself in the long run anyway. You’re fucking up your ability to feel anything at all. And if you don’t start to let go and trust someone soon, if you don’t sort your fucking head out, it will be too late for you.’

Stacey stood up abruptly and took a step back. ‘I don’t know who the hell you think you are. You might be great when it comes to analysing crime in theory, but when you start to talk about real people and real emotions you’re just full of shit.

‘We had a bit of fun, but that’s as far as it goes. You can theorize as much as you like about what you think might be going on inside my head, but only I know the truth.

‘It’s not that fucking complicated. I’m a single mum, I’ve got elderly parents who I sometimes need to look after, and I’ve got a demanding job that plays havoc with my social life at the best of times.

‘We had a nice evening. Don’t make me regret it.’

Stacey picked up her handbag and grabbed the last of her croissant. ‘I’ve got to go to work. I’ll see you around.’

Jacques rolled his eyes. ‘Don’t let the door hit your planet-sized ego on the way out, will you?’

18

Morning prayers had only just begun as Collins bustled her way into the office wearing the same clothes as the day before and hoping to high heaven that no one noticed.

Anderson raised an eyebrow in her direction but she guessed it was more of a comment on her arrival time than on her clothing. She moved quickly into a back corner of the room alongside Tony Woods, who gave her a nod of acknowledgement. The two officers then turned their full attention to the DCI.

‘As you know, we’ve to focus attention on the abduction of Detective Sergeant O’Neill. We suspect the person who took him is the same person that Bevan had been speaking to on the internet, who in turn we believe is the person behind the killings we are investigating. CEOP have been working around the clock on the case, and they’ve managed to strike up a conversation with shygirl351.

‘They’ve arranged to meet in a chatroom later this morning,’ Anderson continued. ‘I’ve arranged with CEOP to relay whatever is being said to one of our computers here so we can monitor the conversation. The hope is that we can draw this person out into another meeting.

‘According to Carter, it’s going to be a slow process. They estimate usually it takes between two and six weeks to get to the point where they are willing to arrange a meeting. Coming so soon after a potential murder, it may take a little longer. But I think it would be good for us to look in on the first couple of conversations, as it might give us more of a clue about the sort of person we are looking for.

‘There’s a little bit of politics going on here and it’s not yet clear who’s going to take the lead on the job. In theory we’re all working together but you know what they say about too many cooks spoiling the broth. I’m hoping that won’t be the case here.’

The briefing over, Collins and the other officers returned to their desks, an air of uncertainty hanging over them. The officers were increasingly split about the best way forward with the case. Although Patrick O’Neill had been missing for almost four days, they had no absolute proof that he had been killed, or that he had fallen victim to the killer, or even that their killer was using the internet to find potential victims.

A new search of Chadwick’s computer and his laptop had failed to find any link to this kind of activity. No one on the team wanted to admit it, but they were blundering around in the dark.

As if the pressure of work wasn’t bad enough, Stacey was finding it difficult to concentrate for other reasons too. Jacques Bernard’s words were playing heavily on her mind. There had been plenty of men over the years but always on her terms. That was the way she had always wanted it. The job, Sophie, it was all too much to deal with on its own, let alone with a man in tow. In her experience men were not to be trusted, they were after only one thing and once they had it they turned into complete bastards. They would do or say whatever it took to get inside your head and once they were there, they would fuck around just for the sake of it.

Stacey had done her best to prevent this from ever happening. The kind of men she liked, the ones she found herself drawn to, tended to live for the thrill of the chase. She made it relatively easy for them, she knew that, but nine times out of ten she would end the relationship at that point. The men had got what they were after, for sure, but so had Stacey. And they would get nothing more.

But Stacey was getting older. She couldn’t keep on behaving like a horny teenager. In a few short years’ time her parents would be dead and Sophie would have left home. And then she would be all alone. Is that what she wanted?

Was Jacques really different or was he as full of shit as all the others? There was something about him that made her a little uncomfortable, though she found it hard to put her finger on exactly what that was. Woods had sensed it too and made no secret of his hostility towards the man. But they had slept together now, and it had been good. And Jacques clearly wanted more. Perhaps it was time to soften her attitude, to let down a few of the barriers she had built up over the years. Time would tell. She would have to tread carefully. She would give it a few days, and then she would agree to meet with him again.

‘Are you okay? You look like you’re a million miles away.’

Collins looked up to see Tony Woods smiling at her. ‘Sorry, Tony, deep in thought. What’s up?’

‘Shygirl’s online. They’re about to hook up with the feed.’

The computer had been set up in a side office on the far side of the incident room. On the way Collins and Woods passed the board in the centre of the incident room that carried the pictures of the victims and many of their details. Collins suddenly felt drawn towards the images and stood directly in front of them, looking up at each face in turn. Woods was soon beside her.