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possible for oneman to get Daniel in here without being noticed and then to hoist his struggling body up like that? Perhaps there was an accomplice, someone to help in his sinister night’s work. There was no way of telling. All she knew was that she was dealing with a very dangerous person – or persons – capable of watching fear distort the face of a child, watching his legs flail around while the light of life slowly faded from his eyes.
    Collins walked out of the front entrance, manoeuvring her way round a SOCO clad in a white boiler suit who was dusting the door and handle for prints. She made her way to the back of the church. She needed to see what was there. The answer, of course, was another cordon. The familiar blue-and-white tape cut off the road on either side of the back of the church, and two uniformed constables stood guard while a small crowd of onlookers wondered what was going on inside. Beyond the cordon the street itself was busy with Friday night traffic. A little further down was a pub with an abundant display of hanging baskets outside.
    She looked up at the walls of the buildings around the church until she found what she was looking for: a sleek grey rectangular CCTV camera trained on the street to record the drunken antics of trouble-makers who might cause damage to the pub or surrounding buildings. Collins made a mental note to ensure that her junior officers retrieved the footage as soon as possible and continued her walk.
    Back at the front of the church, she saw a small laminated sign, held in a wood-and-glass frame, showing the weekly Mass times. Collins checked that day’s services:there had been a morning Mass, a midday Mass and another scheduled for seven. The priest must have been arriving to prepare everything for the evening service. The phone call to Daniel’s parents had been made at just after five o’clock. The killer must have known that he had a window of about two hours should the money not arrive or the drop-off turn out to be a set-up.
    Larcombe appeared beside her. ‘We’re ready to bring the body down now,’ he whispered. ‘Unless you have any objection.’
    Collins shook her head and followed Larcombe back into the main hall of the church. She stood beside Blackwell at the back of the pews as Larcombe walked up the aisle towards the scaffold tower that rose up directly beneath Daniel’s body.
    Collins was suddenly aware that everyone in the church had stopped to watch the operation in absolute silence. It was as though no one wanted to disturb Daniel from his sleep.
    Two firemen climbed up to the top of the tower along with Larcombe and Jessica Matthews, the forensic pathologist. A stretcher was passed up and set in place, and the two firemen, with tears in their eyes, supported the dead weight of the child. The noose was gently lifted from around Daniel’s neck and left hanging in mid-air as the boy’s body was placed on the stretcher and secured ready to be lifted down. All eyes in the church were transfixed, and many of them also filled with tears as he was gently brought down to the ground.
    Collins’s mobile buzzed into life, alerting her to an incoming message. She retrieved it in time to see the nameof the sender appear on the screen: Sophie. She hit the ‘read’ button and the full message appeared: THIS IS NOT FAIR!!!!!! YOU’RE NEVER AROUND. YOU PROMISED!!!!
    Blackwell noticed how distracted she suddenly appeared to be. ‘DI Collins, is there somewhere else you need to be?’
    Collins snapped her phone shut. ‘It’s nothing. I’m fine,’ she whispered.
    Collins walked over to where the firemen were gently laying the body down on a trolley close to the entrance. The boy’s eyes were bloodshot and bulging. His mouth was wide open, as if emitting a silent scream. Up close the slash marks on his face were paler than expected, each one framed by congealed blood. His bare feet were a deep purple and horribly swollen where the blood had pooled. There