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He said, ‘Thanks, Mr Blade That’s fine What ti split shifts this week Ten till two, then six till ten tonight So it will be somewhere between two thirty and three o’clock’

In the car, Steph Mead said, ‘Wasn’t that a bit of a risk?’

‘He’ll turn up He’s that sort of bloke’

‘Hope you’re right So nohat?’

‘Canal They’ve got the divers going in this ?’

‘Not Mrs Webber, that’s for sure’

‘Not if she was doing h’

‘The whole thing’s odd, all of it It’s going nowhere, Steph, and unless and until we get to talk to Abi Righton it’ll stay this way It’s bloody frustrating’

Thirty seconds later, Vanek’s phone rang He listened, said ‘On our way’ and turned to Stephanie Mead as driving ‘There is a God’ He was shton’

Stephen Webber had identified the CCTV footage as al his wife, both at the checkout and then leaving the store, on foot, with two plastic carrier bags The grey coat she as the saes were blurred, everything about them, her hair, her , ‘thank God That is so good, that is such a relief, thank God’

Serrailler had coain hiile state after his long and anguished confession early thathim that Webber was close to breakdown Now, Simon escorted him back to his own room, where tea had been provided by his secretary – tea in a pot with the cups and saucers, reserved for special visitors

‘Thank you very rateful and you do realise, don’t you, what good news this is? I know you can’t take that in yet because we still haven’t found your wife, but the fact that she was caught on ca in Lafferton, albeit in the early hours, means that she was alive then and that was several days after she disappeared In all the other cases, where the young women have been murdered, or almost murdered, they were killed very shortly after they wentWe knew your wife didn’t fit the profile of the others and this does confirone of her own accord Given what you told me earlier that seems even more likely So you do have reason to be optimistic’

‘I have always had reason, Superintendent, I trust in God, God doesn’t fail us’

Si, only wondered that such confident faith had not been apparent before now He looked at Webber as he sipped his tea He see up, he was the picture of someone who entirely lacked trust and opti with ato keep it a secret while holding down a de new job, would put years on anyone He would talk to Cat later She would tell him in more detail exactly what Ruth Webber’s mental condition meant in terms of her behaviour and her relationships For now, he waited until the Dean had drunk a second cup of tea and looked slightly restored, then had him driven ho for the canal, and as he pulled into the lay-by and looked round, he thought that it rese so much as a location film set The entire area had been cordoned off and onlookers were being turned away, or at least held back behind the tapes, by a large nu from the back s of the printworks Nobody could prevent therassy slope and onto the towpath, but as he was about to go over to where the divers were e, someone called his name The Chief Constable was also on her way down the slope, with a constable hovering, as if unsure whether to treat her as a woman and take her arm, or as a police officer and leave her to her own devices

Simon Serrailler wondered how the tea officers

‘Sie that you were co down’

‘I didn’t send one’

She stood beside hi across at the threelance at her He could tell from the tone of her voice that she was not there to hand out praise

There was a splash as the first diver dropped into the water, then another and another

It had gone quiet as everyone watched and waited

‘How deep is it?’ Paula Devenish asked

‘It’s one of the deeper canals in the country – about fifteen feet’

A diver resurfaced but went under again at once

Serrailler felt uneasy Finding nothing would mean he had to make a decision about how much further downriver the divers were asked to look, howwo the towpath near the footbridge, then the attack would have happened right under the noses of the police surveillance Surely the killer would not have taken such a risk?

‘Can I get someone to fetch you a coffee fro if you’d thought of bringing in a profiler?’

‘I have thought, yes’

‘I know you’re not keen on theht tie up soations a new sense of direction It needs someone from outside, don’t you think?’

‘Yes We’ve had an excellent young woave us a pretty exact profile of the arsonist in the West Country She works fro of all this already of course’

‘Nobody could fail to, could they? We’re getting some very bad press, Sily hostile, de results, arrests, answers, reinforcements, new leadership, increased public safetyup the public into a frenzy of fear and suspicion and anti-police feeling The press officer at the station was under extreet worse until an arrest was made If another woman was found to have beenTelevision vans were camped outside permanently now, every movement in and out was recorded, and Serrailler was hassledthe thes and disappearances and lack of progress was being threatened and posters were appearing deht to walk safely’

At the beginning, though people were shocked and their syenuine, the murders were of prostitutes and they did not identify closely hat had happened Once Ruth Webber disappeared, they did Serrailler had e showing her in the super he had been made uncomfortably aware that the reaction would not be wholly positive A sighting did notby the canal in the chilly autuht blue sky, Simon was suddenly transported to Venice It was the sreen smell, and the sleekness of the dark water He had not been to the room he rented from Ernesto for some time, and he promised himself now that when all this was over he would take himself off for a few days there, before the winter mists and chill descended on the city He could taste the coffee, hear the extraordinary silence of that car-less city where you could make out the sound of footsteps on the stones and individual voices floating up through an openHe was in a trance of recollection when at the same moment as the Chief murmured and went past him, he heard a splash and a shout fro helped by another to carry soht

The reat quiet in the small side rooh hospital bed, a nurse at the end of it The consultant had said that because Abi had regained consciousness three tis were i, albeit only slowly, he was prepared to let theht , absolutely no pressure, do you understand? Otherwise you’ll be out and I won’t let you back for some time She won’t be able to speak, you do realise that? Her throat is badly daed But if the esture in reply – soest one blink for yes, two for no, that sort of thing But keep your questions to an absolutethat’s likely to distress her’