The rain eased as they passed Fleet Services, and the sun poked through the few remaining clouds, reflecting off the wet road ahead and making it almost impossible to see. Finn had been silent for most of the journey.

‘Everything okay?’ Kate asked when she could no longer take the silence.

He turned to face her, confused. ‘Sorry?’

She offered him a look of concern. ‘Are you thinking about Amy?’

‘Is it that obvious?’

‘We’ll catch him, Finn. Okay? I promise you.’

‘What if you lose your job?’

She didn’t want to even consider the possibility. ‘This is bigger than that.’ She smiled affectionately.

He didn’t return the smile, facing the window again. ‘I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that night, about that sick monster who killed my sister. That he might have been in her flat the week before, and…’

‘None of this is your fault, Finn. You have to stop blaming yourself for what happened. I know it isn’t easy.’

‘I want to make him feel the pain that he’s caused all of us. Does that make me a bad person?’

‘Bad, no; human, yes.’

‘I… I want him to suffer, you know? Amy was such a firecracker; the life and soul of family gatherings. Nothing’s been the same since… if only… I probably shouldn’t be telling you this. You’ll have me arrested.’

‘I’m hardly in a position to do that at the moment,’ she half-joked. ‘I understand how you feel, but when it comes down to it you’ll do the right thing, that control is what differentiates us from them.’

‘You think too much of me.’

It was an odd response, and something was niggling at her mind. ‘What is it you’re not telling me?’

His attention remained fixed on the road out of his window. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘The call you took back at the café, was it your wife?’

He glanced back at her and nodded. ‘How did you know?’

‘It didn’t look good, that’s all. You don’t have to tell me.’

He sighed. ‘I agreed to move to Devon to try and fix things, to get away from it all, but things haven’t been right with me since… I feel so guilty that I wasn’t able to protect Amy. It eats away at me. I try to hide it, but my wife, she can tell. The thing is – I’ve never told anyone before – but she called me that night.’

Kate almost swerved into the hard shoulder. ‘What? They checked her phone records and I was the only person she called.’

He nodded gravely, staring down at his hands. ‘It was from a payphone, I think. I missed her call, because I was driving home from work. She left a message asking me to call her back. We were due to see each other for lunch at my dad’s place on the Sunday, and I figured she would just speak to me there about whatever she wanted to discuss. Instead of calling her back to see what was wrong, I went to bed. I had a stinking virus, and the doctor had me on these really strong antibiotics. And then the next morning, my dad phoned and broke the news. I was physically sick there and then; I barely made it to the kitchen sink. The guilt has been eating away at me ever since; in her hour of need, she reached out to me, and I didn’t take her call.’ He pressed his hand to his eyes in an effort to stop the tears escaping.

Kate had already been suspended when the full details of Amy’s last night had been uncovered. Most of her understanding of what had happened, she’d drawn from the tabloid coverage of the crime. Coverage that ultimately held her accountable for what had happened, and led to her being chased out of the Met.

‘So, she called you too. Did the investigating team speak to you about the call?’

He shook his head. ‘They never asked, and I didn’t mention it, in case they suspected I might have had something to do with it. It was only a ten-second message.’

‘Why do you think she phoned you?’

‘I tell myself every day that her call had absolutely nothing to do with what happened that night, but I can’t escape the more probable truth: that she reached out to me because she thought her life was in danger.’ He covered his face with his hands, and gently sobbed.

Kate reached over and rubbed his shoulder. ‘She called me too, Finn, but my battery was dead. I was the one who should have had her back. This isn’t your fault. It was mine. It was my job to protect her. You shouldn’t feel guilty.’

His tears continued to flow freely. ‘The image of her in the street haunts my dreams. She didn’t deserve to die like that. She should have been older and at home with family who loved her; not left out naked in the gutter like… like trash.’

‘Can I offer you some advice?’

He nodded, as he wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

‘Call your wife and tell her everything you just told me. If there’s one thing I do know, it’s how to wreck a marriage. If what you have is worth saving, then you need to let her in.’ She fixed him with a stare. ‘I promise you, I will catch whoever killed your sister. Okay? I won’t stop until I do, and I know I’m getting closer. We just need the last piece of the jigsaw and we’ll have him.’

He acknowledged her statement with a faint smile. ‘I meant what I said, too; I am at your disposal. I promise I won’t do anything stupid if you find the evidence you need. You can trust me, Kate.’

‘Good. Well, the first thing you can do is open the file by your feet. Steph Graham’s address should be in there. I want us to go back to where this all started for me.’