Grace had spent several childhood holidays on the Isle of Wight. A few miles south of the coast of Hampshire, it was the second smallest county in England, with a population of around 140,000. One of its claims to fame was that it housed Parkhurst prison, once one of the country’s highest-security jails, which had hosted, at various times, the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, the Kray Twins and Moors Murderer Ian Brady among many of the nation’s most notorious and repellent criminals. But in recent years, he recalled, following a number of high-profile escapes, it had been downgraded from a Category A to a B.

‘OK,’ Grace said. ‘What information can you get from the Isle of Wight Hovertravel company? Do we have a name the ticket was booked under?’

Branson shook his head. ‘They don’t take names – it’s only an eight-minute ride. I’ve spoken to the boss, Neil Chapman, a very helpful man. You can buy tickets for cash at the terminal or online or by card. I’ve sent DC Hall down there to have a trawl through the online name and credit-card bookings for Sunday afternoon and evening, then he’s going over to the island to talk to the prison officer.’

‘Tell him to bring back a tube of Alum Bay sand,’ Grace said.

Branson frowned. ‘Alan Bay?’

‘Alum Bay. Used to love it as a kid – it’s famous for its cliffs of multicoloured sand. You can buy tubes of it, all different colours.’

Branson gave Grace a strange look. ‘How many tubes do you want, boss?’

‘Just reminiscing, I always wanted to take Bruno there—’ He tailed off.

‘Ah, right. OK.’

‘Get all the names of Eden Paternoster’s relatives on the Isle of Wight. And there must be CCTV?’ Grace said, snapping back into professional mode.

‘There is, yes. They have it at the hovercraft terminal in Southsea and at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. There are also onboard cameras.’

‘Have you got the footage?’

Branson shook his head. ‘Not yet, thanks to GDPR.’

General Data Protection Regulation was one of the banes of modern life that even the police, regardless of the urgency of an enquiry, had to abide by.

‘I’ve done the application for the DP2 form to the Hovertravel GDPR officer. I’m hoping to hear back from them shortly. The good news is that they keep all CCTV for thirty days. So long as we don’t get a jobsworth, they’ll burn off a copy to a USB stick, which Kevin Hall can bring back.’

Grace thought for some moments, absorbing this. ‘As soon as you get it, I’d like to see it.’

‘And maybe Haydn Kelly?’ Branson said.

Kelly was the pioneer of Forensic Gait Analysis, who Grace used regularly when he was available to help confirm or deny a suspect from the way they walked.

‘Yes, if the facial images aren’t clear enough and if there’s any footage of her walking,’ Grace said. ‘Before then, are we going to review the footage of Niall Paternoster’s interviews with Jon and Norman?’