‘Are you sure you’re going to be okay?’ Finn asked as he pulled up at the kerb, nodding at her foot.

‘It reminds me of what’s at stake if I make another bad call,’ Kate replied.

He shook his head dismissively, sensing it was better not to argue. ‘What are we doing back here anyway?’ he said, changing the subject.

Kate sat back, and allowed her eyes to fall on the semi-detached home of Willow Daniels’ parents. ‘I think I have an idea why he chose Willow. And if I’m right, the answer is inside that house.’

‘Are you going to tell me what?’

‘Not yet. Soon, I promise. I just want to be sure first.’

---

The front door was opened by a man with thick bags beneath his eyes, and a thinning hairline. He recognised Kate before she’d even introduced herself. ‘You’d better come in,’ he said glumly, holding the door open for them.

Finn led the way, with Kate hopping behind him on her crutches. She was relieved to sit back at the table where she’d spoken with Mrs Daniels the day before. ‘Is your wife around, Mr Daniels?’

He collapsed into one of the vacant seats, his shoulders slumped. This wasn’t the image of the man Mrs Daniels had described as hiding his grief by burying himself in work. He looked awful. ‘She’s out.’ He said, simply.

Kate’s eyes wandered over the condolence cards, looking for a specific image, but not seeing it. ‘Can you tell me when she’ll be back? There’s something I need to discuss—’

‘When are you just going to leave us alone to grieve for our daughter?’ he pleaded, venom in his eyes.

‘Mr Daniels, I’m trying to bring you justice—’

‘Oh, don’t give me that crap! This is just about getting your name in the papers. You’re as bad as the rest of them! My wife was in such a state after you came here yesterday. We was up most of the night consoling each other. Every time it looks like we’re on the mend, one of your lot comes over and rips the scab off.’

Kate’s cheeks flushed. She was about to apologise when Finn piped up.

‘You haven’t got a clue, mate! This woman here hasn’t stopped looking for the bastard who destroyed your family since the day your daughter was killed. Whoever it was, he murdered my sister too, and I know that this woman is the only one who’s going to nail him.’

Mr Daniels looked as shocked as Kate at the outburst. Finn spun on his heel and moved away from the table.

Kate reached for his hand. ‘I actually have some questions about you, Mr Daniels. I need to ask you about one of your previous cases as a social worker. Do you recognise the name Coleridge? Did you ever deal with a young girl by that name?’

He looked shocked. ‘I have dealt with hundreds of children from all walks of life. Why do you want to know about one specific case?’

Kate took a deep breath. ‘Because I believe that the man who murdered Willow did so to seek revenge against you.’

‘Me? No, you’re wrong.’

‘There’s one way to know for sure. Did you handle the Coleridge case?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t recognise the name.’

She couldn’t read his body language, but pushed forward. ‘Following the murder, did you receive a strange condolence card from someone you didn’t recognise? The card would have been signed with the initials DC.’

He shook his head vehemently. ‘No. I really have no idea what you’re talking about.’

Kate continued to watch him, her mind working backwards. Had she missed something else? Her mobile ringing broke her trail of thought.

Kate stepped away from the table and out into the hallway, leaving Daniels’ shoulders gently rocking. ‘Laura? Tell me you have good news.’

‘I’ll let you be the judge. I reached out to a contact in social services. Elaine Coleridge was the subject of four separate investigations, well, her father was. The files my contact has sent over are heavily redacted, so it’s impossible to see the specifics of the investigation, but what I can see is the dates on which the recommendations were made, and the names of those who were involved in the decision-making process.’

It was all Kate could do to keep her mouth shut and listen.

‘We might never know for sure what triggered the investigations, but my contact was surprised that four separate enquiries had been conducted by four different authorities. One in the Midlands, two in different parts of London, and one in Essex. He said that he would have expected Elaine to be taken away from her abusive father by a third investigation. But he also added that this was in the ’80s, so everything was paper-based and many children slipped through the cracks. If Coleridge Senior regularly moved his daughter to new locations, then maybe that’s how he got away with keeping her with him for so long.’

Kate closed her eyes. ‘Who signed the reports?’

‘A Mr P. Daniels, a Mrs D. O’Brien, a Dr S. Olufabe and a Mr J. Mickelson.’

Kate turned back to the living room, but Daniels was nowhere in sight. ‘Daniels and O’Brien – we have a connection, but I don’t recognise the other two names.’

‘I know, right? I was asking myself the same thing: what about Steph Graham? And then I remembered you saying she was adopted, right? You said her parents were from Nigeria originally? It wouldn’t be too difficult to check with adoption services whether Steph Graham was originally born to Dr Olufabe.’

Kate lowered the phone as a tearful Mr Daniels emerged from the kitchen. He held out an envelope for her to take. She removed the card from within, and held her breath as she opened it and read the message inside:

Now you know how I felt. DC.