Three months after Evan disappeared, hope is dwindling. Costs, however, continue to mount up.

When Naylor and Hagen are summoned upstairs at the end of morning briefing, they have an inkling of what’s coming. They’ve nothing to report but depressing dead ends and trails gone cold.

Chief Inspector Martin Campbell has one of the best offices in the building, with a window and a view of the bus station, but the furniture’s no better than anyone else’s. Campbell sits behind his cheap desk, leaning back in his faux-leather chair. He’s tried to make the place feel like home with photographs of his kids, his son grinning up at the camera from a canoe, his daughter on horseback, jumping a fence of striped poles. Hagen knows Campbell doesn’t see his kids much any more, and he suspects the horse-riding and canoeing are paid for by the ex-wife’s new man. That’s hard to compete with, even on a chief inspector’s salary.

‘So what’s new?’ Campbell asks.

The question is rhetorical. Campbell keeps himself up to speed in case of update requests from the Chief Constable, and he already knows that Lee Bryant’s trip to Poland checked out with Border Control, and that the potentially interesting Crimewatch leads – from Strathclyde to Dorset and the Costa Brava – all came to nothing. He knows there’s a prosecution pending for Noah Jadoon and the Manchester cartel who sold him fake alcohol, and that nothing was found on Evan’s computer to suggest an intention of running away. He’s authorised searches of drains to recover Evan’s phone, all of which came back with nothing, and undercover intelligence operatives working to discover the boy’s whereabouts have drawn only blanks.

‘Not much, Sir,’ says Naylor.

‘These armed robberies, then,’ says Campbell. ‘Forensics think the three of them are linked. I want you to see what you can do with them.’

‘What about the Ferrers case?’ asks Hagen.

‘I’m going to have the incident room wound down. It can’t be funded indefinitely. Resources are tight, and I don’t see we’re making any progress. You’ve just told me you don’t have any new angles to pursue.’

Hagen and Naylor are silent.

‘So. I know you’ve done your best, but there comes a time to face the facts. We all know the likelihood is that Evan’s already dead, and probably died within hours of his abduction.’

‘Who’ll tell the parents, Sir?’ asks Hagen.

‘You will,’ says Campbell, looking at Naylor. ‘Of course, let them know our commitment to the case is unchanged. You know what to say.’

‘Shall I tell them resources are tight?’ asks Naylor.

The Chief Inspector seems not to have heard. He looks at Hagen.

‘Let me know how you get on with intelligence on these robberies, Bradley,’ he says.