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nearby could have heard, sent a picture to Mrs Prior, and told her where Mia was staying.’
    The DI took her eyes off the screen. ‘I follow your reasoning. I wonder if the newspaper will have been given that information, along with the pictures? I’ll check, see if we can stop them printing her address.’
    ‘Oh dear. What a mess. And the man who saved our lives? Leon Spearman? I’d like to thank him in person.’
    ‘If you’re right, then his name and address will be in the paper on Friday, too. You didn’t know the woman who died?’
    ‘Never seen her before, didn’t really catch more than a glimpse, after . . . after. Horrible business. It keeps replaying in my mind. No one had the wits to catch the number of the car.’
    ‘Hang on a minute. I’ll see if I can get an update.’ The DI wasn’t long away, returning to say, ‘The Volvo. A family car. It was found abandoned by Ealing Common tube station late last night. It’s being examined now. It had been stolen the night before from outside someone’s house. The owner’s shattered, has two little boys of his own. And before you ask, they managed to save the toddler’s arm, but he’ll be in hospital for a while yet. The baby’s been taken by social services and they’re looking for other members of the family as we speak.’
    ‘I would like to think it was a hit and run by a joyrider, but I can’t quite convince myself that that was the case.’
    The DI attempted a smile. ‘You have an instinct for crime, Mrs Quicke. It would make my life a lot easier if you hadn’t. I must admit you are more often right than wrong.’
    Saying which, the DI actually held out her hand for Ellie to shake, before ushering her out of her office.
    Wonders will never cease, thought Ellie. Did that woman actually admit I belong to the human race?
    She looked at her watch and frowned. Everything always takes so much longer than you think it should. What was next on her list? She sought in her handbag for the envelope on which she’d been jotting down notes and found it eventually. She must go to the solicitor’s first, and then – it was getting late – a sandwich somewhere? And after that she’d go on to Marks & Spencer by bus, to get a whole load of stuff for Mia to try on. After that she’d better organize herself a taxi back home.
    A horrible worm of suspicion was lurking at the back of her mind. Diana had said Denis had found them a large house to rent, one with six bedrooms and two bathrooms. Of course there was no reason to suppose that he was after one of the houses which Ellie’s trust owned. Of course not. Ridiculous.
    Or was it? She thought she’d better check as soon as she got back.
    Tuesday afternoon
    He’d never wanted to kill anyone before. He hadn’t thought he was capable of it. How surprised everyone would be, if they knew what he was thinking. It would be like killing a spider, or a rat. He must take care that he wasn’t caught. It would be best to use psychological tactics at first. Scare her to death. If that didn’t work, he was perfectly prepared to go further.

FIVE
    Tuesday afternoon
    E llie tried not to dislike people at first sight, or even second. She gave herself five seconds during which she suspended judgment on Mia’s solicitor, and then allowed herself to wonder if he’d had a personality transplant. Or might that be an asset in his line of business?
    It was clear that he had all the facts and figures, the law and the prophets, at his fingertips – which, by the way, he was forever rubbing together in a manner which meant either that his skin was so dry it needed attention, or that he had an annoying mannerism which his parents should have checked. Provided, that was, that he had actually had parents, and had not been spawned out of textbooks by law reports.
    He had arrived at the house just as Ellie was decanted from her cab, exhausted and hung around with bags from Marks & Spencers. Since Mia refused to leave the kitchen