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Cobb removed the forensic gloves he was wearing and passed them to Poe. Poe sealed them in an evidence bag. He passed Cobb a fresh pair and watched him struggle into them. After Cobb had made a meal out of what was essentially a simple task, he held up his hands to show Poe.

‘Happy?’ he asked.

‘We’ll watch the Aaron Bowman video,’ Poe replied, ‘but then you’re telling me what happened to his sister. And if this was only a ruse to make me watch this sick shit, you won’t make it back to the station.’

Cobb shook the last video out of its sleeve and pushed it into the machine. He pressed down on the spring-loaded mechanism until it locked. The JVC didn’t have a remote and Cobb didn’t press play.

‘What are we waiting for?’ Poe said.

As he had done with the previous five films, Poe had his phone held up so he could document what came up on the screen. At least if the machine chewed the tape – a not unlikely possibility given how old Cobb’s technology was – Poe would have a record of what was on the cassette.

‘This is the last time Cornelius and I did this, Sergeant Poe,’ Cobb said. ‘In a moment you’ll understand why.’

Up until then, if Poe had been asked what he was feeling he would have said 50 per cent rage/50 per cent revulsion. Rage at what Cornelius Green and Israel Cobb had forced those boys to do. Revulsion at the sickening way the victims had died. He thought both emotions were a rational response to what he had witnessed.

But right now all he felt was unease. He suppressed a shiver. Despite the night’s lazy warmth, goosebumps popped up like hives. The murders Cobb had filmed were as nightmarish as anything Poe had ever seen. Any one of them would attract life without the possibility of parole and Cobb was admitting to six. What was Cobb about to show him? What was a step too far for a man like this?

‘What did you do, Israel?’ Poe said, his voice thick with fear. ‘What was different about Aaron Bowman?’

Cobb cleared his throat.

And told Poe a horror story.