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can get on him, then you and me will pay him a visit. See what he has to say, where he was when he should have been here.’

    Clayton nodded.

    ‘Now—’

    Whatever Phil was about to say was cut short by the sharp ringing of a phone. Everyone stopped what they were doing, looked around at each other. An eerie stillness fell, disturbed only by the insistent sound. Like someone had just broken through at a seance. The living trying to contact the dead.

    Phil saw the phone in the living room and motioned to Anni. Whoever it was would be expecting a female voice. Anni crossed the room, picked it up. She hesitated, put it to her ear.

    ‘H-hello.’

    The whole room waited, watching Anni. She felt their stares, turned away from them.

    ‘Can I help you?’ She kept her voice calm and courteous.

    They waited. Anni listened. ‘Afraid not,’ she said eventually. ‘Who is this, please? . . . I see. Could I ask you to stay on the line, please?’

    She held the receiver to her chest, cupping it with her hand. She called Phil over. ‘All Saints Primary. Where Claire Fielding worked. They’re wondering why she hasn’t turned up for work.’ She mouthed the next words. ‘What should I tell them?’

    Phil didn’t like handing out death messages to work colleagues before close relatives had been informed.

    ‘Have they spoken to Julie Simpson’s husband yet?’

    ‘Don’t think so. He would have told them what was going on.’

    ‘Good. Tell them we’ll send someone round to talk to them this morning. But don’t say anything more.’

    ‘Why not?’

    ‘I think next of kin should know first.’

    Anni nodded, went back on the phone.

    Phil turned to Clayton, his voice lowered so it wouldn’t carry down the phone line. ‘Okay. Like I said, the Birdies can follow up on Julie Simpson. Now, the media’ll be here soon. Before we go, I’ll call Ben Fenwick. Get him down here to deal with them.’

    ‘King Cliché rides again,’ said Clayton.

    ‘Indeed,’ agreed Phil, not irritated by this comment of Clayton’s, ‘but he’s good at that kind of stuff and they seem to like him. Plays well on screen. They’re going to be on our side with this one - at least for now - so we’ll sort out our approach in the meantime. And find out if Claire Fielding’s parents live in the area. Get someone over to talk to them.’

    ‘Shouldn’t we get the DCI to deliver the death message, boss? All PR to him.’

    ‘Yeah, but he might want to take along a camera crew. See who’s at the station. Get someone with a suitable rank to do it. Draw straws if you have to.’

    ‘Yes, boss.’ Clayton was writing everything down.

    Anni came off the phone. ‘We’d better get someone round there soon as. They’re not going to keep a lid on this for long. And it was a baby shower.’

    ‘How d’you know?’

    ‘Lizzie, that’s Lizzie Stone who just phoned, knew Claire was having a get-together with friends last night. Mostly other teachers, I think.’

    ‘Right,’ said Phil, thinking on the spot. ‘Can’t remember who said this, but it’s true. My mind will change when the facts change. So. Anni, get the Birdies sorted. Adrian chain of evidence, Jane still sticks with what she was doing. You get yourself round to All Saints, take as many spare units as you can. Statements, the works. Separate them, don’t give them a chance to collude. I want to know exactly what happened at that party last night. Get Millhouse up and running as gatekeeper for the investigation back at base. And get him to give the computer system a pounding. We’re going to need extra bodies. DCI Fenwick’ll sanction that, I’m sure, because I want the Susie Evans and Lisa King cases re-examined with a fine-toothed comb. Any similarities, no matter how small, they get flagged and logged. And get uniforms to check CCTV for the whole area, inside these flats and out, registration plates, the lot. Everything referenced and cross-referenced.