‘We’re on to the service provider to get call records and tower data,’ Jai added. ‘But if she didn’t make any calls, we’re screwed. And even if she did, the data doesn’t always help – there aren’t many towers in that area. But the techies are doing what they can. And before you ask, there was no sat-nav in her car.’

I was conscious of a general shuffling of feet, as if they were keen to dash off. To catch the golden hour.

‘Without veering into the realms of the very unlikely, I reckon there are four basic scenarios,’ I said. ‘One – she’s alive and she left the abattoir on her own; two – she’s alive and she left the abattoir with someone, possibly against her will; three – she’s dead and someone disposed of her body at the abattoir, possibly with the missing waste; four – she’s dead and someone took her body away from the abattoir. If she’s alive and left with someone, or if she’s dead and someone took her away, that would most likely have involved a car. Which somebody may have seen. Do you agree?’

They all nodded earnestly – except Craig, who was looking at me with the expression of a dog eyeing up a lamp post.

‘Anything else?’ I asked. ‘No matter how unlikely.’ I tried to soften my tone. I did my best to make the briefings non-scary, so people could talk without fear of having the piss taken, although it could be challenging with Craig and Jai around. I was well aware that if I wasn’t careful, I could end up with a queue of introverts at my door straight after the briefing, jostling for space with the folk from intelligence strategy, CSI, forensics, and family and media liaison. That I did not need.

But nobody said anything. They were too far into greyhounds-in-starting-boxes mode.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Dismiss nothing at this stage. We’ll do a short press briefing later today – get the photos out and an initial appeal. And let’s find that abattoir waste before it’s turned into puppy food and porky twizzlers.’

5

Violet’s friend Izzy sat in one of our nicer interview rooms looking very young and overwhelmed. She had a standard-issue teenage look with long, straightened hair and highly defined eyebrows. I was hoping Jai would turn on his charm and get her talking, because if anyone knew what was going on with Violet, it was likely to be her best friend.

Izzy fiddled with her hair, stroking it like a pet. ‘Is Violet okay? She’s gone like totally off-grid.’

Jai activated big-brown-eyes mode. ‘When did you last hear from her?’

Izzy softened. Brown-eyes mode successfully received. ‘Yesterday afternoon. She said she’d come up with more info and she’d be in touch later. But she never called and she hasn’t posted anywhere. Something must have happened to her.’