Jane handed over a white envelope. ‘They all received one of these before they disappeared. Look …’ She pointed as Bloom turned the envelope over and read the small silver writing. ‘It says mum’s name. Then all the cards have the same thing inside.’

‘“Happy First Birthday.”’ Bloom opened the card. ‘“Your gift is the game. Dare to play?”’ She turned it over, but there was nothing written on the back. ‘Did anything else come with it?’

Jane shook her head.

‘And they all received the same card?’ Bloom flicked through the stack of emails again.

‘The guy in Leeds left his in the car. His fiancé told me the police found it on the passenger seat.’

‘Weird, isn’t it?’ Jameson said.

‘And you showed this to the police?’ said Bloom.

Jane nodded. ‘They said it was evidence that these people chose to disappear and grown-ups were allowed to do that.’

‘Maybe because it says “game” they dismissed it,’ said Bloom.

‘Have we seen anything like this before?’ Jameson asked.

Bloom didn’t need to respond to his question. He knew every detail of every case they’d ever worked on. Beneath that mop-haired head sat a hugely impressive brain. A brain that could see angles and manage complexity like none she had ever known. There was no one else she had even contemplated partnering with.

‘And why happy first birthday?’ Jameson said.

Bloom placed Lana’s card back in its envelope. ‘I expect if we knew the answer to that, we’d know what all of this was about.’

‘So, what do you think?’ Jameson said after he’d sent Jane to Costa for a latte. ‘She was always a funny one, that Lana. A bit off, you know, never really around. Claire used to worry about Jane. The war really messed Lana up and that kid has paid the price. All the kids do.’

He wasn’t subtle. She noticed the switch from talking about one sad little girl to the importance of standing up for troubled military kids in general, but she said nothing.

‘I know what you’re going to say. We’re too busy. We can’t afford to work for free. But this is a friend. You know why I wanted to do this work with you … to make amends, or do some good or … whatever. And if I can’t do that for my friends and my family, what’s the point?’

Bloom sighed. She wanted to think it through, consider all the angles, assess the risks. Their work often involved digging deeply into a person’s private life, examining their hidden views, behaviour and motivation. How would that affect Jameson and Claire’s relationship with this Lana?

‘What would we do with our other work while we help your friend?’ she said.

‘We’d manage.’

‘What would our clients say when we miss our deadlines?’

‘We wouldn’t. We’d make it work.’