Everyone was scratchy and wired: lack of sleep, an overload of caffeine and the excitement that comes with a possible break in the case. An underlying sense of failure because they hadn’t caught the killer before another person had died. He’d been home to snatch a couple of hours’ rest and a shower, and now he stood in front of the team trying to order his thoughts. To wonder what Vera would do to get them to focus, if she was standing in his place. There was a mumble of chat as people got more coffee, found places to sit. Holly slid up to him. He hadn’t seen her since she’d been sent to Shirley’s flat to notify any possible next of kin of the woman’s death. A thankless task. She looked cool and refreshed, though she’d probably had less sleep than him. She waved a clear plastic evidence bag in front of his nose. ‘What am I looking at?’ ‘A shopping list. I found it in Hewarth’s house.’ Her hair was still damp from the shower. She turned over the plastic bag so that he could see Shirley’s address written on an envelope.
