‘So three of the four other disappearances are legitimate. I spoke to family members and their local police stations. They all received the same dare-to-play card on their birthday, which was some time in the last three months. First was Faye Graham, a mother of two who turned forty-two on the fifth of January, then Grayson Taylor, a political science student who turned twenty on the tenth of February, then Stuart Rose-Butler, the father-to-be who deserted his car. He turned twenty-nine on the twenty-fourth of February.’

‘And Lana’s birthday was just over a week ago?’

‘Yes. The ninth of March.’

‘What’s her surname?’

‘Reid, spelled with an “e” and an “i”.’

Bloom noted it down next to Lana’s birth date. ‘And the fifth person?’

‘Seems to be a red herring. A girl called Sara James contacted Jane through Facebook and said her mother had gone missing too, but there were no details other than what Jane had already revealed.’

‘Jane’s message?’

‘She asked if anyone knew of someone who’d received a white birthday card with a dare-to-play message and then gone missing.’

‘Great,’ said Bloom, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

‘I know, but she’s young and that’s what they do these days, vent their every thought on social media. So I wondered if this Sara might be a fake, and sure enough the email came from an office building in Swindon. I checked and no one in the company knows of a Sara James.’

‘Someone feeding off the drama? Or using it as an opportunity to groom?’

‘Something like that. I’ll keep looking, but for now we have four real disappearances. We may be too late for Faye and Grayson – they’ve been missing for a month or two – but Lana and Stuart have only been gone a few weeks.’

‘That might still be too long. And the police officers you spoke to – were they doing anything?’

‘Nope. Nada.’

‘Any interest in a number of potential victims?’

‘They said to keep them informed.’

‘Of course they did.’

‘Look, I know you’re worried about our other work, but I’ve looked through the planner and we have no pressing deadlines in the coming week. The next court date is a fortnight away, and I’ve checked in with the solicitors and detectives on our cases and nothing’s changed in terms of urgency.’

‘I have my young-offender clients.’

‘Tuesday mornings and Friday afternoons, right?’

Bloom murmured her confirmation. Counselling under-eighteens was important to her and Jameson knew that.

‘We can work around that. One week. That’s all I’m asking. Just to see if there’s anything to it. I’ll cover all the expenses.’

‘There’s no need to do that. We have enough in the account.’