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conservatory door and unlocked the gate that led to the alleyway outside. She crouched to release the lower bolt, as Joesbury pulled back the upper one. In the months since she’d last opened this gate, a winter jasmine had wrapped itself around the hinges. They had to pull together to open it. Tiny yellow flowers fell to the ground.
    ‘See you around, Flint,’ he said as he left the garden.
    Deep inside Lacey, something shrivelled up tight, like paper in a flame, then lay still.

9
    ‘ THE BODIES OF Jason and Joshua Barlow were formally identified by their father an hour ago,’ announced Dana to the team in the incident room, including her immediate boss, Detective Superintendent David Weaver. ‘OK, for the benefit of those new to the investigation, these are the facts.’
    Behind her, the photographed faces of five young boys stared down at those who were expected to come up with some answers.
    ‘In the last eight weeks, five boys aged either ten or eleven years old vanished from in and around their homes,’ she said. ‘No one saw them leave, no one saw anyone take them. There were no obvious signs of forced abduction. The first of those boys to vanish, Tyler King, was last seen on the twentieth of December. He is still missing and may be nothing to do with this investigation. Four bodies have now been recovered.’
    Weaver was slightly built for a police officer, with thick dark hair, thin lips and a hooked nose. His resemblance to a bird of prey, Dana always thought, was due in no small part to his habit of sitting perfectly still, allowing only his eyes to move around the room.
    ‘Ryan Jackson vanished on the third of January, was held somewhere for seven days and then found on a muddy bank at Deptford Creek,’ she went on. ‘Noah Moore was taken on the thirty-first of January, found at Bermondsey five days later. In both cases, deathhad occurred within a few hours of the body being dumped. On first sight, this appears to be the case with the Barlow twins.’
    Eyes flickered to the photographs of the two identical dead boys, lying on an oil-slicked, stone-strewn river beach. Weaver’s gaze remained fixed on Dana.
    ‘Neither Ryan nor Noah were sexually abused or tortured in any obvious way,’ said Dana. ‘Early indications are that the Barlow boys weren’t either. Cause of death in each case was extensive blood loss following the severing of the carotid artery.’
    ‘Do we think the killer is someone they know?’ asked Weaver.
    ‘Seems likely, Guv,’ answered Anderson, after a nod from Dana. ‘Kids of ten and older, especially in London, are usually quite savvy. They wouldn’t go off with a stranger without putting up a bit of a fight.’
    Not a strange bloke, maybe
, thought Dana.
An unknown woman, on the other hand …
    ‘When Noah disappeared, we started looking for connections between him and Ryan,’ Anderson told the team. ‘Obviously, two days ago, we brought the Barlow twins into the circle. Trouble is, there’s nothing obvious.’
    ‘Although the four boys – five including Tyler – lived within roughly the same area,’ Dana said, ‘and are of the same age and ethnicity, unfortunately the similarities seem to end there. They went to four different schools and we can find no evidence that either they or their families knew each other.’
    ‘Families all had different backgrounds,’ explained Anderson. ‘Ryan Jackson lived with his mum, who’s a single parent, and two younger siblings. Noah Moore was an only child of affluent, professional parents. Jason and Joshua’s father has been out of work for six months, their mother works part-time in a supermarket.’
    ‘Two of them were Cub Scouts but with different packs,’ said Dana. ‘All four – five including Tyler – played football, but you name me a ten-year-old boy who doesn’t.’
    ‘There’ll be a link somewhere,’ said Weaver.
    ‘I agree, Guv, but we’ve talked to everyone who knew those boys, including all their