Natalie, standing in the doorway, could hardly tear her gaze from the small child dressed in trousers, sweater and trainers, his fist in his mouth and eyes wide in confusion. He was staring towards the house and tugging at the hand holding his, reluctant to accompany the gentle-faced policewoman and social worker who were attempting to coax him into the car.

It was the pullover that had done it: the blue patterned sweater with a red tractor that the child wore. Josh had owned an almost identical one when he was a toddler. This little boy was smaller than Josh had been at the same age. They’d identified him as Oscar Kirkdale, and he was thirteen months old. Natalie forced back the emotion. She was a professional but on this occasion the sweater had touched a part of her, the maternal part that she guarded purely for her personal life. She cleared her throat. She had a job to do. She cast about the hallway, noting the tiny blue slippers kicked to one side, the coats on pegs by the door: one an adult’s black anorak, the other a child’s duffel coat. A pale-blue handbag with a dog motif was upside down on the floor and a heart-shaped key ring bearing the name Samantha in large pink lettering was on the floor next to the staircase. A stuffed toy giraffe with a happy smile stood on the first step as if waiting to greet them.

‘Oscar was found shut in the cupboard under the stairs. He appears to be unharmed but we don’t know if he witnessed anything or not. His father, Daniel Kirkdale, has been notified and is coming to collect him. Apparently, he and Samantha have been separated a while.’

‘Daniel Kirkdale,’ she said, thoughtfully. Mike nodded. ‘Where’s Samantha?’

‘Through here.’ Mike walked ahead of her and turned right. Natalie brought up the rear and stared at the horror in front of her, eyes grazing the cereal box, the collection of coloured blocks on the table, the child’s plastic cup with lid, the bib left hanging on the back of the high chair, and landing on the sight on the floor.

‘From what I can make out, she was first attacked in the hallway. There are bloodstains on the wall directly behind the door and further droplets on the floor. There are also folds and rolls in her clothing which support the theory she was dragged in the direction of the kitchen, where she was butchered to death. They left behind the weapon,’ said Mike. ‘An eight-inch chef’s knife.’

Natalie didn’t respond. She was looking at the bloody smears left on the cupboards and preparation area, where Samantha had tried to get away from her attacker. Now she was face down, one arm outstretched as if still trying to escape the monster who’d stabbed her repeatedly. She was slight in stature, dressed in jeans and a loose-fitting cream blouse stained crimson. Strands of long auburn hair had come loose from an orange plastic hair clip and now trailed in sticky patches of blood.

Natalie’s gaze travelled over the woman’s body to the white fridge, where the killer had left a message in blood: ‘who?’ The letters were sloped like those in the first message they’d found. This had been written by the same person. Without saying a word, she turned on her heel and left the room. Aileen Melody was still outside, talking to Pinkney, the pathologist. Natalie joined them.

‘Looks to be the same perpetrator,’ said Natalie. ‘Mother’s been brutally attacked, this time with a knife. We’ll have to establish if it was one of Samantha’s knives or if the killer brought it to the scene. Given it’s been left behind, I’m assuming it’ll be free of prints. The killer’s a confident bastard.’

Pinkney hoisted his medical bag. ‘I’d best go in.’

As they watched his retreating back, Natalie turned to her superior. ‘Who found her?’

‘One of her friends, Victoria Endon. She’d been trying to contact Samantha all afternoon without success so she called in on her way home from work. The door was unlocked. She heard Oscar crying and found him shut in the storage cupboard under the stairs. She called out for her friend, spotted the blood in the kitchen and dialled 999 immediately.’

‘She still around?’

‘I had an officer drive her home and wait with her. She was badly shaken. Lives near the community centre, Maple Drive.’

Natalie observed her officers, several doors down, who were currently canvassing the street. Ian was in conversation with a young mother, toddler by her side, pulling at her skirt for attention. Murray was at the door of the next house along, asking the same questions, hoping somebody had been at home at the time of the attack and spotted the assailant. Forensic staff in white suits, carrying metal cases containing testing equipment, walked down the path, one behind the other. They acknowledged the women as they passed by.

Aileen waited until they’d entered the house then spoke quietly. ‘We have to track them down quickly, Natalie. We can’t keep the lid on something this big. The press office is already under pressure to release more facts regarding Charlotte Brannon’s murder, and now this changes everything.’ Aileen didn’t have to spell it out. It was going to be almost impossible to prevent panic once this news got out. ‘I’ll discuss it with the powers that be and see if we can figure a way to keep the enormity of this from the public.’ She studied Natalie with glittering eyes. I’m relying on you and your team to nail this son of a bitch. Find me something, Natalie. And quickly.’

She strode towards her Volvo, leaving Natalie staring at the row of houses in front of her. It was a quiet street of terraced houses, whose occupants had probably been at work at the time of the murder. Murray had moved three houses further down and was knocking at another door.

Lucy materialised from the opposite direction. ‘No one was at home at the time,’ she said, indicating the houses she’d tried. ‘Not one person.’

Natalie spoke quickly. ‘We’ve got an important link. The victim is Samantha Kirkdale. Samantha is married to Daniel Kirkdale.’

‘Isn’t he one of Adam’s boxing club sponsors?’

‘Exactly. They’ve separated. Samantha lived here, not at the marital address, and she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. We need to talk to Victoria Endon. She found the victim’s body. I’ll let the others know.’

---

Victoria Endon gulped back tears and sipped the warm tea. Her eyes were almost swollen shut with crying. Her mother, who’d introduced herself as Heather, had an arm around her daughter’s shoulder.

‘I understand this is a terribly difficult situation for you, but we need to act urgently and we require your help, Victoria. How about you tell us when you last spoke to Samantha?’

‘This morning. I told her I’d try to drop around and maybe go out with her and Oscar before I went to work. I was on an afternoon shift, twelve to six, but I was running late and didn’t make it. As soon as I got to work, I sent a text to say sorry and I’d see her later. She didn’t answer. At first I thought she was in a huff with me, but that wasn’t like her. I sent another text asking if everything was okay but again I got no reply. I tried her on Snapchat but she wasn’t online. I rang her during my break and still no answer, so I worried something had happened and maybe Oscar was sick. She’s my best friend. We talk all the time. It wasn’t like her to freeze me out, so I told work I was feeling ill and came away an hour earlier than normal to see what was happening. She didn’t come to the door when I knocked, but for some reason I tried the handle and discovered it unlocked and then… I heard Oscar…’

She choked on sobs. Heather, brows knitted together, patted her hand. ‘It’s okay, Vicky.’

‘Oh God! It was the worst thing ever,’ said Victoria. ‘He was in a terrible state, crying and crying. I called out for Samantha and all the time I sensed something terrible had happened. She would never shut Oscar away in a dark cupboard under the stairs. I held him so his face was against me and carried him along the hall. Her shoes had been kicked away and her bag was on the floor. There were red splashes of what looked like blood leading to the kitchen so I peeked through the door.’ She took a gulping breath, words tumbling from trembling lips. ‘There was blood everywhere. I raced outside and rang the police. I kept Oscar with me until everyone arrived. The paramedics took him from me. Where is he? Is he all right?’

‘He’s with an officer and waiting for his father to collect him.’

‘Poor little love. He was distraught. He kept calling for his mummy. Oh, Lord. What he if saw the person who did this? What if he watched what happened to Samantha?’ Tears fell fast now.

Natalie tried again. There was no time to waste. ‘We understand Samantha was separated from her husband, Daniel.’

Victoria snuffled into a tissue. ‘She left him two months ago. He’d been having an affair for over a year. She’d had enough of it and decided to move out.’

‘She left because of the affair, not anything else? He didn’t hurt her?’

Vicky shook her head. ‘She’d had enough of being treated like a mug, and Daniel wanted a divorce to be with his new woman. She said it was time to move on.’

‘Was Samantha dating anybody else?’

‘Yes. That’s one of the reasons she moved out. She wanted to start over again. It wasn’t serious but I think she wanted it to be.’

‘Do you know the name of the person she was seeing?’

‘Lee Webster.’

Natalie could sense Lucy bristling at the name.

‘Have you met Lee?’

‘She went out with him for drinks a couple of times while I babysat Oscar, and I think she was keen on him but I haven’t actually met him. I’ve seen photos of him though. She sent them to me on Snapchat. We were always swapping photos. She sent me a really nice one of the two of them at the pub…’ Her words faded into a sob. Natalie was forced to wait for Victoria to regain her composure.

‘Did she seem anxious at all when you last spoke?’

‘Not at all. She was chatting about Oscar and how fast he was on his feet. She was quite okay about leaving Daniel. She had Oscar and her job, which she loved, and Lee. It was all getting so much better for her.’

‘She didn’t mention being followed or any strangers contacting her?’

‘No.’

‘And she got along okay with her husband?’

‘Sort of. It wasn’t easy once she knew about his affair. That’s another reason she had to move. She couldn’t pretend at playing happy families. Daniel promised to give up his girlfriend, Carla, and work at their marriage again, for Oscar’s sake, but it didn’t last. Within a couple of weeks, he was seeing Carla once more. That cow made sure everyone knew he’d gone back to her so it soon got back to Samantha, who was gutted. Then she picked herself up. That was Samantha. She was a lot stronger than people imagined. She wasn’t going to be walked over.’

‘She told you all her secrets?’

‘We were really close. We told each other everything. I’ll never find another friend like her.’

‘I’m very sorry indeed about Samantha. Truly sorry, but I’m going to ask you not to speak to anyone about what you saw in the house. It might hamper our enquiries if you do. I’d like a family liaison officer to drop by to chat to you. You can tell her everything and she’ll give you advice and answer any questions you may have, but please don’t discuss it with anyone else.’

She nodded.

‘We really need to find whoever did this to your friend, and the less information that leaks out, the better that is for us.’ Natalie stood up.

Heather squeezed her daughter’s hand as she looked up at Natalie. ‘She’ll be fine. We’ll look after her.’