The cool-persona, polished grin and carefully coiffed hair were gone. Liam Phillips looked terrified as Kate entered the interview room and took her seat across the table from him. All they’d disclosed to the solicitor so far was that Phillips was involved in a double murder enquiry.

Kate had insisted on leading the interviews. She had to be in the driving seat as the finish line loomed in sight. Patel was alongside her to ensure she didn’t stray too far, and Laura had taken her place in the viewing suite. Both Jackson and Vardan had been set up in the next two interview rooms, and she would stalk from one to the next until she had the truth, and more importantly, the location of Daisy. According to Watkins, Daisy was alive, but she wouldn’t remain so for much longer. Jackson, Vardan and Phillips all had access to the school, and all had demonstrated they had the skills to manipulate a vulnerable man like Watkins who longed to be accepted. The question was: were they all involved or was it just one of them?

Kate watched Phillips as Patel started the recording and introduced them all. Phillips’ solicitor had objected to the lateness of the interview, but Kate had waved those concerns away. With a child’s life at stake, every second counted. The sweat shining off Phillips’ forehead confirmed he was worried about some sordid secret being exposed.

‘We know about you and Watkins,’ Kate began, watching his every twitch and jar. ‘And we know why Petr Nowakowski and Maria Alexandrou had to die.’

His eyebrows had almost formed a single line at the mention of Nowakowski’s name.

‘We also have two other suspects in custody, just down the hall, and the first to confess… well, the courts are usually kinder to the one who shows remorse sooner. So, is that going to be you, Mr Phillips? Are you going to save us all a lot of time and admit your involvement?’

The solicitor, her hair as dark as night scraped back into a bun, and her designer glasses perched on the end of her nose, leaned in and whispered into his ear.

‘No comment,’ Phillips offered.

‘You’ve already told us you knew Petr Nowakowski, and that the two of you met up a month ago. What you haven’t confirmed is why you agreed to give him the money he desperately craved. What did you get in return?’

‘No comment.’

Kate suddenly sat forward. ‘Can we cut the crap, Mr Phillips? We don’t have time to slowly tease out information. I need to know what you know and where that girl is.’ She rested her hands on the table, splaying her fingers. ‘So, here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to lay all my cards on the table; I’m going to tell you everything we know, and then – if you have any sense – you’ll fill in the blanks.’

The solicitor reached for her pen, primed to scribble notes.

Kate took a deep breath. ‘We know you were using Neil Watkins.’

A flicker, almost impossible to see, but Kate had spotted it.

‘My team are currently confiscating the computers from your offices and your home. They will check every megabyte of data until they find the proof of what you’ve been up to.’

Phillips leaned over and whispered something into the solicitor’s ear. She covered her mouth as she whispered something back.

‘Watkins confessed what he’d done to Petr Nowakowski and Maria Alexandrou less than an hour ago. But we know that he wouldn’t act of his own volition; he didn’t have it in him. But oh, he was scared of someone. I saw it in his eyes: he was terrified! You see, his partner didn’t know where he’d stashed Daisy. Why was he so scared of you, Mr Phillips? What did you have over him? Or what did you threaten to do if he talked? He told me, you see, he told me he’d been told not to talk to me. Did you give him that order, Mr Phillips?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said through gritted teeth.

Kate slammed one of her hands against the desk. ‘A precious child’s life is at stake!’

‘I don’t know anything about a girl.’

‘Her name is Daisy, Mr Phillips. You’re a man of the world, you watch the news. You know precisely who Daisy Emerson is.’

‘Yes, okay, I know there is a girl missing, but it has nothing to do with me.’

‘Did you tell Neil to kill her?’

‘What? No!’

‘Did you tell Neil to kill and chop up Petr Nowakowski?’

‘No! He was a friend. I didn’t even know he was dead until you told me a moment ago. Jesus! What is all this? You think because I’m from South Africa that I’m just going to cop for something I haven’t done?’

‘This has nothing to do with where you were born, Mr Phillips, and everything to do with how you manipulated Neil to do your bidding.’

‘That’s absurd!’

‘What about Maria Alexandrou? Was it your idea to have her killed at the sports hall? The same sports hall that was under your supervision?’

It was Phillips’ turn to raise his voice. ‘Are you fucking stupid? Why would I do anything to delay that project? I have sunk almost everything we have into that redevelopment. Every day we fall behind schedule I risk my company going under. If that’s your best theory then have a look at my books! You’ll see how counter-productive such an act would be!’ He rested back, straightening his blazer, and running a nervous hand through his damp hair.

Kate continued to watch him in silence, until it became uncomfortable. ‘You haven’t denied knowing Neil Watkins.’

‘Yes, okay, I knew the groundsman. That doesn’t mean I was colluding with him to commit murder.’

Kate turned to Patel. ‘You know there’s been something bothering me about Mr Phillips here since the first time we met in his office. I asked you at the time why the school had opted to use a third-party building inspector, rather than one provided by the local council. You claimed it wasn’t uncommon… but now I think I understand. Now I understand how you managed to offer the winning tender for the work; how much of a backhander did you offer to secure the project, Mr Phillips?’

Phillips was whispering to his solicitor again.

‘You said yourself it was a huge stepping stone for the company, and could bring in a lot of new business for you,’ Kate said, as the hushed conversation continued. ‘And that must be the case if you’ve ploughed most of the company’s resources into it.’ She paused, chancing her luck. ‘Was Neil the middleman between you and whoever benefited from the bribe?’

More hurried whispers.

Kate nodded for Patel to suspend the interview. ‘We’ll leave the two of you to chat,’ Kate informed them, ‘while we go and talk to the person I think will come clean first. We’ll be back, Mr Phillips.’

---

Ismael Vardan had surrendered his right to legal counsel, and was sipping from the plastic beaker of tea as they entered. His cheeks bore the scars of childhood acne and his chin sported a thin black goatee.

‘We’ve got your friend Liam Phillips next door,’ Kate began when Patel had started the recording. ‘He’s speaking with his solicitor at the moment, probably trying to work out a plea bargain. You’ve opted not to seek legal counsel, Mr Vardan. Are you sure you shouldn’t review your options?’

Vardan glared at Kate, folding his arm, daring her to break him.

‘All right,’ Kate acknowledged. ‘Where’s Daisy?’

Vardan rolled his eyes. ‘I have told you before, I don’t have a clue where she is.’

‘Can you tell me what she was like to teach?’

He sighed loudly. ‘She was a good student, with a keen interest in literature, as I told you when you asked me these questions last week.’

‘But you knew she had a crush on you, didn’t you, Mr Vardan? You didn’t tell us that last week.’

His shoulders tensed. ‘I wasn’t aware that—’

‘Bullshit!’ Kate interrupted. ‘We have emails between you and Chris Jackson confirming you were more than aware of her infatuation with you.’

For the first time since he’d been arrested, Vardan looked uncomfortable. ‘No… well, I-I-I couldn’t be sure… I, uh—’

‘I forgot to mention we have Chris Jackson in custody as well,’ Kate said, raising her eyebrows suggestively. ‘He’s been here since this morning, and our IT specialists have been pouring all over his computer and emails. We found the conversations between the two of you, Mr Vardan, and, in a moment I’m going to go and interview Mr Jackson and I expect he’s just about to tell me everything I want to hear. But I thought I’d give you the chance to come clean first.’

Vardan looked at the door, as if he was considering making a dash for it. His hand trembled as he lifted the beaker of tea to his mouth.

‘I’m waiting, Mr Vardan. You knew Daisy had a crush on you, didn’t you? You knew because you’ve been in that position before, haven’t you? Last time you managed to cover up what had happened, but maybe things went too far again. Did Daisy threaten to tell what had happened?’

‘No, nothing happened… okay, look I knew she acted differently around me, but I didn’t do anything to lead her on. School girls develop crushes on their teachers all the time, but I swear I didn’t go near her.’

‘What were you and Jackson discussing in your emails then? You were planning to go abroad together, weren’t you? Why?’

‘Chris is… Chris is a friend. That’s all.’

Kate gave him a knowing smile. ‘It was a bit more than that, wasn’t it, Mr Vardan? Remember, we have read the emails.’

‘No, listen, it has nothing to do with Daisy.’

‘Why did he mention her in the emails, then?’

‘He was just trying to wind me up! He knew what had happened in my last school, and knew that you lot would assume I was somehow involved in Daisy running off. It was playful banter, that’s all.’

‘Where were you for three hours on Thursday when we believe Maria Alexandrou’s body was being mutilated in the sports hall at St Bartholomew’s?’

‘I was reading in my classroom.’

‘Don’t lie to me! Your whereabouts are unaccounted for. Were you helping Neil? Is that why nobody saw you?’

‘Neil? The gardener?’

‘That’s right. He confessed his involvement in the two bloody crime scenes we discovered. He also told me he had a partner who had sworn him to secrecy. That was you, wasn’t it, Mr Vardan?’

‘What? No! I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Kate sighed. ‘I’m about to go and interview Chris Jackson. If he confirms that all of you were involved, he’ll probably get a lesser sentence than the rest of you. This is your final chance, Mr Vardan. Tell me what happened.’

His hands flew up to his eyes, as he began to gently sob.

‘You, Jackson, and Phillips,’ Kate continued, ‘you’re all in this mess up to your necks, but all I want to know right now is where Daisy is. We know about Phillips paying you to win the swimming pool contract. Whose idea was it to exchange murders? Whose idea was it to try and sell the victims’ organs to the highest bidder? Talk to me, Mr Vardan. Where the hell is Daisy?’

An urgent knock at the door interrupted proceedings. Kate leaped from her chair and yanked the door open.

Freeborn leaned in. ‘Ma’am, the supe wants to see you upstairs now.’