Lucy got into her car, so angry that her hands were trembling. She needed answers from Patrick and she was going to get them from him. He’d been withholding evidence and vital information that could have sped up identifying Jenny Burns, and it was unacceptable. But there was always the tiniest chance it wasn’t him who had been the family friend. There could be several Patrick Bakers in the area; for all she knew, he could have a distant cousin with the same name. So she would be calm and professional at first, just in case it wasn’t him. She could lose her shit with him afterwards.

She kept thinking about the Carnival Queen Killer. What was the connection between two bodies being left in the same place, just metres away from each other? Her phone rang. She put it on loudspeaker to hear Col’s muffled voice.

‘Boss, are you driving? Should I ring back?’

‘Yes and no – you’re on speakerphone. What have you got for me?’

‘The Carnival Queen Killer was called John Carter – the first woman he murdered was the carnival queen for Brooklyn Bay. He met her at the carnival dance. She had a nine-year-old son that no one knew about; she was only fourteen when she got pregnant. He killed a couple of carnival queens from neighbouring towns as well before they realised it was the same killer and they had a problem on their hands. He left the first victim, Linda Smith, in the woods. She was naked. Her body was just off the footpath for all to see. Not too far from where Jenny Burns was discovered.’

Lucy was frantically trying to absorb the information. ‘Thanks, Col. Do you know what happened to the boy?’

‘He had already been taken in by his aunt when he was born. She brought him up as her own; apparently Linda had a bit of a reputation and liked to live her life to the full. The aunt was a writer and actually wrote a book about the murders. I think she also wrote a couple of other true crime books. I’ll try and get hold of them for you. That’s all I have for now. I’ll get on with the other stuff you gave me.’

‘Thank you so much.’

He ended the call and she tried to process all the information her brain had absorbed in the last hour. It was as if a tornado had gone off in there. All these snippets were swirling around and she felt like a kid who had let go of her balloon. She was trying her best to keep jumping up and grabbing the string to pull it back down. Lucy knew that somewhere in the jumbled fog was the information she was looking for and that it would come to her.

* * *

Mattie spotted the small silver car heading towards them. ‘Oh shit, he’s coming.’

Both of them tried to slide down into their seats, making themselves as small as possible, and Browning laughed.

‘Look at us two, trying to blend in when we stand out more than a nun in a whorehouse.’

Mattie laughed and straightened up as he looked at the car, which was indicating to turn into the drive opposite them. He wasn’t expecting to see the elderly woman in the passenger seat and he nudged Browning with his elbow.

‘Shit, he’s brought the next one home with him. What do we do now?’

‘Well, we can’t let him take her inside, can we? I don’t want her murder on my conscience. Come on, we need to grab him as he gets out of the car.’

Mattie shook his head. ‘Lucy is going to bloody kill us.’

They jumped out and ran across the road and up the drive just as Toby opened his door and swung out his legs. Mattie grabbed him, pulling him from the car before he even knew what was happening. Within a matter of seconds he had him cuffed and a tight grip on his hands.

‘What are you doing? I haven’t done anything wrong! I just wanted to help Lucy out, that’s all.’

Mattie looked across at Browning, who was helping the old woman out. ‘It’s okay, you’re safe now.’ She took one look at him, saw Mattie with the handcuffed Toby, and lifted her handbag to smack Browning over the head.

‘Get off my grandson, you wankers! What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

Browning, who was reeling from the force of the blow to the side of his head, gawped across at Mattie.

Toby looked at his nan. ‘It’s okay; you go into the house, I’ll sort this out and be in soon. It’s all a mistake.’

The old woman was actually snarling at Browning and he took a step backwards out of her line of fire. He was rubbing his head – he didn’t know what she had in that bag, but it was heavy.

‘We need to talk to you, Toby, about last night, the information you have and your visit to the DI’s house.’

Toby’s nan turned to glare at Mattie. ‘Then you’ll talk to him inside the house, not out on the street like he’s some common criminal.’

Mattie looked at Browning – both of them were shocked. This wasn’t what they’d expected at all. She unlocked the front door, opening it wide for Mattie, who had a tight grip on Toby’s elbow as he walked him inside. She barked instructions at Browning. ‘You get my shopping out of the car – I don’t want my fresh groceries to go off whilst you’re messing around playing at being cops.’

Mattie chuckled; this was surely the most bizarre situation he’d ever been in.

Toby glanced warily at Mattie. ‘Don’t piss her off; she’s little but she can be crazy at times. The second door along is the dining room.’

Browning got the shopping out of the car and followed them inside. He walked behind the woman, who led him to the kitchen and pointed to the table. He put the bags on there and then they both went into the dining room, where Toby was now sitting on a chair with Mattie standing over him. His nan stood in front of them all with her arms crossed.

‘Now, someone tell me what this is all about before I lose my temper.’

Browning shook his head, letting Mattie answer. ‘We need to speak with Toby about a few things – it won’t take long.’

‘A few things like what? Don’t be clever with me.’

‘I’m sorry, but this is nothing to do with you. Toby is an adult, so we don’t have to tell you anything or discuss it with you.’

Browning stared at Mattie, wondering if the old woman was going to crack him one as well.

‘I’m fully aware of that. However, you’re in my house and I take it you don’t have a warrant or you’d have shown it to me. I also never heard you read Toby his rights so we can either sort it out now or I’ll call my solicitor, who will be suing you both for wrongful arrest and trespass.’

Mattie realised she was right: they’d both just fucked up big style. He felt his stomach tie itself up in knots. Lucy would murder them – if Toby were the killer, any lawyer, regardless of how good they were, could get him off on this technicality.