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life, her activities. And hopefully lead us in the right direction to find out.’ His voice was quiet. The emotional energy this job took from him was immense.

As he sat there comforting Kalisha and talking to her he realised he needed to take stock himself and attempt to get himself on a more even keel. He was being sucked into the case more emotionally than usual. But then again, the cases never usually dragged on this way.

Kalisha sobbed and sobbed. Her heart was breaking. Her best friend was gone, and gone in the most brutal way possible.

‘Do you know where she was last night?’ Dominic asked.

Kalisha dabbed at her face some more but the tears she soaked up were quickly replaced by new ones. The tissue she clung to was disintegrating in her grasp. ‘She mentioned something about a new guy. She hadn’t had much luck in the love department, not since she and her ex split. She has a daughter.’ She started to sob harder. ‘Oh my God.’ Her hand went up to her mouth. ‘Amelia. If Victoria went out last night Amelia will have stopped at a friend’s house. She’ll be at school and will have no idea.’ She sobbed hard. ‘That poor . . .’ More sobs wracked through her body. ‘G-girl.’

Dominic’s stomach twisted. This bastard definitely had a type. Women in their forties with children. What a sick twisted fuck. Someone was going to have to get this girl out of school and tell her the world as she knew it was over.

He desperately wanted to help this woman but felt helpless. Then he remembered a secret weapon he might be able to use. ‘I have someone you might be able to talk to if you think you’d find it useful?’ he said quietly. ‘I think it’s usually a resource for family members but the guy is someone I know so I can ask him to get in touch with you if you’d like?’

Kalisha blinked. ‘I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say here . . .’

Dominic reached out and patted her hand. ‘Take your time. I’ll give you my contact details and if you decide you want to talk about this then give me a call. Samuel is a decent guy and has supported a lot of people. He’ll be a good person to talk to.’

She blinked at the tears that filled her eyes. ‘Thank you.’

He hoped Samuel would be okay with him offering his services. After all, Dominic had no idea how busy the man actually was. But he’d been positive about supporting the loved ones of those the Strangler had murdered.

Now Dominic needed to get the conversation turned back around to some investigative questions. ‘How did she find the man she was dating?’ he asked.

Kalisha swiped at her cheeks. Dominic could see she was physically trying to pull herself together, trying desperately to help. If this had happened to her friend then she would do everything she could to support the police in their effort to find her killer.

‘She was on the Close to Me dating app.’

‘And did you see the guy she was dating or get his name or any of his details?’

‘He called himself Nathan Ward, said he was forty-six and was divorced.’ She wiped away more tears as she remembered the man who may have been the last person to see her friend alive. ‘They chatted for a bit on the app and then they agreed to go out and I think that was last night.’

‘Did you see a photograph of him? Can you describe him?’ Dominic had made a note of his name. This was his man, he was sure. He needed a better description of him though. Someone who had actually seen a decent photograph of him.

‘I can do one better than that,’ she said. ‘I took a photograph of the photo Vicky showed me—’ she looked up from her phone to Dominic — ‘in case something happened to her.’ More tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘You say that, don’t you, never usually expecting it to be the case that something happens and you need it.’

Excitement built up in Dominic. ‘You have a photograph of him?’

‘Yes.’ She flicked through her phone again. ‘It’s not very clear though.’

‘Anything is better than nothing,’ Dominic reassured her. He leaned forward in his seat.

Kalisha spun the phone around towards him. He had the image of the Sheffield Strangler.

Chapter 44

Dominic

It was as everyone had previously described. The sun was behind his back and was blazing into the camera. You could clearly see what he was wearing, jeans and a pale blue shirt, open at the neck and tucked into his jeans, you could tell his hair was dark, but his face was completely obscured.

It was no help whatsoever.

It could be Alex Chapman. His hair was dark.

‘Do you mind if I take a copy of this?’ Dominic asked.

‘Of course not, if you think it’ll be helpful.’ She handed Dominic the phone.

‘It’s not that we can make out who he is from this,’ he said. ‘But it’s the first time we’ve seen this image and if we disseminate it we can at least prevent other women from going on dates with him.’

‘Oh God, yes. Of course.’

Dominic thought about the best way to get the image from her phone. ‘If you email it to me, I think that might be easiest. Then we can work from my email within the police systems.’ He handed the phone back and reeled off his work email address as she thumbed the details into the phone.

‘I’ll get someone to come down and get a statement from you.’ He rose from his chair. ‘I’m so sorry for your loss, Kalisha.’

‘And Amelia?’ Tears started again.

‘We’ll get someone to pick her up, alert Social