‘Exactly. I’m talking to her this morning. Their neighbour’s agreed to come in and be her appropriate adult.’

Suzanne’s mobile beeped and she glanced at it, her face creasing with irritation. Simon, Patrick hoped, enjoying the thought that his boss would be in a grump with the smug git.

‘Alright, good,’ she said. ‘Keep me posted on that. I assume the FLOs are with the family now?’

‘Yes. Sandra Godden and Li Chen. They’re the most experienced FLOs we’ve got left. The others are with the Hartleys and the McConnells. The Philips family are staying with the next-door neighbours until the SOCOs are done.’

Suzanne came round the desk and perched on the edge of it, Patrick avoiding looking at her legs.

‘Find out what you can from Alice. But don’t spend too much time on it.’

He bristled. ‘You don’t need to tell me how to do my job, guv.’

‘I know.’ Her tone softened. ‘But we are surely thinking this is connected to the other two abductions, which means the Philipses are not suspects.’

‘I haven’t ruled anything out yet.’

‘But surely—’

‘Yes, I know. It’s either the Child Catcher—’

Suzanne winced. This was what the tabloids had started calling the unknown offender after a child at Sainsbury’s who’d seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had reported seeing a man with ‘a long nose’ in the supermarket the day Liam had been taken.

‘Sorry. Or it’s a coincidence. Either way, Alice Philips is our most important Sig Wit and if her boyfriend was there, he’s one too.’

‘Let’s go and talk to the team.’ She paused before the door. ‘We’ve got three missing kids now. Three! If we thought the public were panicking before . . . This is like a pandemic.’

‘No, it’s not.’

‘What?’

‘A pandemic is when a virus crosses international borders. All of these crimes have occurred within the same borough. It’s an epidemic.’

She rolled her eyes and sighed. ‘You’re a fucking smart-arse, Patrick Lennon. Go and have your bloody shower and I hope it freezes your nuts off.’

But he was sure a smile flickered on her lips as they left the room.