Rosie stepped out of the small pool gathering by her boot. The canal bridge offered shelter from the elements, but the rain hadn’t stopped all day, and water was running in a thin line to widen already well-established puddles.

“It’s March the fifteenth,” she said. “Which would mean you last saw Kyle around Valentine’s Day?”

The crisp-eater clicked his fingers. “Yeah, yeah, that’s right. He got Tahlia one of those massive cards and a load of chocolate so she’d shag him, but then he fucked her off, so she started shagging Demi-Lee, which is kinda cool.”

Rosie recorded the comment verbatim, amused by the prospect of typing everything up for Steph, who had hand-picked her for house-to-house that morning and then sent her chasing after a gang of Kyle’s latchkey kid mates.

“Do you have an address or contact details for Tahlia?” she asked.

The lad chugged from an energy drink and burped close-mouthed. The stink of fish and artificial fruit flavour hit her as he exhaled.

“Her dad chucked her out cos she’s a lezzer. She was crashing with Demi-Lee for a while, but Woody reckons he’s seen her down the old mill.”

Rosie grimaced. “The one on Bennett Street? Looks like something out of a horror film?”

“Yeah. Second floor’s dodgy as shit. Mickey Foss fell through it a few months back, and he’s been a cabbage ever since.”

“Thanks for the heads up. Can you describe Tahlia for me?”

Still busy working on his Mars, the lad raised one finger as if loath to spoil his final bite. He swallowed and immediately began to pick his teeth. “She’s half-Paki,” he said around a grubby digit.

Rosie gave him a look that made him bite down on his knuckle. “Can we phrase that any better?”

“Sorry, miss,” he said, his cheeks reddening. “She’s small and, um, light brown, and she has long dark curly hair, and she doesn’t wear one of them scarf things. I think she’s about fourteen.”

“Thank you. I’m sure that’ll be very useful.” Rosie tucked her notepad into a pocket on her stab vest and looked around at the group: two lads and two girls, all of them skinny and shivering, and none of them older than fifteen. “Does everyone have somewhere to stay tonight?”

They nodded en masse, offering up addresses that were probably false and a shelter known only as “Olly’s.” She handed the lad her card. “If you think of anything else that might help, or you need help yourselves, give me a call, okay?”