Kim took a deep breath before knocking on the door of the home they’d visited earlier that day.

‘Inspector,’ said Lilith Cordell with surprise.

A multitude of emotions passed over her face, concern, fear, expectation even though she couldn’t have had a clue what she was here to tell them.

‘Have you found him?’ she asked, stepping aside as though it was perfectly normal for Kim to be knocking her door at five minutes past midnight.

‘Found who?’ Kim asked, momentarily taken aback.

‘The murderer, Inspector. Surely that’s why you’re here at this time of night. I wouldn’t normally be up but we’re waiting for Saul, my eldest.’

‘No, Mrs Cordell, that isn’t why we’re here,’ Kim said, gently. ‘Please, sit down.’

Luke appeared beside his mother dressed in grey joggers and a tee shirt. Out of his suit he looked younger but no less antagonistic than earlier.

‘Inspector, I hope you have a good reason for—’

‘Mrs Cordell, please sit down,’ Kim said, ignoring the youngest son. ‘Saul is the reason we’re here.’

She simply dropped onto the couch and reached for her son’s hand. He took it, his expression now every bit as anxious as his mother’s.

‘Is he all right?’ she asked, as the last few drops of colour faded from her cheeks.

‘I’m afraid he’s been in an accident on the motorway.’

‘Oh my God, is he… is he?…’

‘Dead?’ Luke finished for her.

‘He was alive when we left, but barely,’ Kim explained so as not to get their hopes up. ‘I have to tell you that he was trapped in the car wreckage for a while. We had confirmation a few minutes ago that he was released and airlifted to Russells Hall Hospital.’

‘Alive?’ Mrs Cordell asked, trembling.

‘Yes, but please don’t get your hopes up. The accident was—’

‘We must go to him,’ she said, standing and turning to Luke.

‘Not so fast,’ Kim said, standing. This was a woman who didn’t take direction well.

‘We have a car waiting at the end of the drive to take you,’ she said.

Luke shook his head. ‘I can—’

‘I insist, Mr Cordell,’ she said, firmly. ‘Firstly, there’s the fact neither of you should be driving while in shock; secondly the squad car will get you there quicker than—’

‘Inspector, what were the circumstances of my son’s accident?’ Mrs Cordell asked, astutely.

‘We don’t yet know the exact details,’ she admitted. ‘The priority was in releasing your son from the car.’

‘You said accident,’ she said.

Kim nodded. ‘Until we learn otherwise. Now, the squad car will get you to the hospital and an officer will remain with you. Please, be prepared that you probably won’t be able to see Saul for a while and when you do—’

‘The police don’t normally operate a taxi and babysitting service for the families of traffic accidents, do they?’

Kim shook her head. Damn this woman who had managed to keep her wits and composure despite the horrific news about her son.

‘You think the two are related, don’t you? My husband’s murder and my son’s accident. You think someone has it in for our family?’

Kim thought about the missing photograph from the frame at Cordell’s flat.

She nodded slowly and honestly. ‘Yes, Mrs Cordell, I do.’