“You,” she said, raising a finger, “I told you this would happen. I told your people, I told the doctors. That woman in the hospital threatened me, she followed me home. Everyone thought I was crazy. Now look.”

“Not me,” said Harper, “I didn’t think you were crazy. I believed you.”

Lauren’s face twitched with surprise. She searched Harper’s. “You did?”

“It was the same person?” said Harper. “The one in the hospital, the one you saw outside the house? Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Detective. Please, help me. Tell them to let me go. I need to … Morgan and Riley, they need me …”

Without warning the fight went out of Lauren and she was limp, her head flopping to her chest. The PCSO pulled gently downwards on Lauren’s arm so that she sank, deflated, into the chair and started to sob.

Harper knelt beside her. She could smell the sweat and the fear. The other officers waited to see what the DS would do, and she knew that, right now, she needed to play it strictly by the book.

“Lauren. I have to ask you this. Where are Morgan and Riley?”

The question shocked the sobs to a stop. She drew in an angry breath, wiped her wet nose with the back of a hand.

“How can you …? I don’t know. If I knew that, I wouldn’t be here—why do you all keep asking me that?”

She was telling the truth, Harper was completely sure of that.

“I’m sorry. It’s procedure. We’re trained to start at the beginning, with you, the last person to see them.”

“You’re just wasting time. You should be searching, not asking me stupid questions.”

“Tell me where they were, when you last saw them.”

“I fell asleep. I didn’t mean to. So stupid, it’s my fault.” Lauren pounded on her head with the heel of one hand. Harper gently prevented her, holding each of Lauren’s hands in her own.

“So, you didn’t see the person who took them away?”

“No, but who else could it have been? She warned me, she said she would take them, if I ever left them alone. I left them alone, I didn’t mean to but I did. I sat down on that bench, shut my eyes, and that was it. My brain just shut off. I don’t even know for how long I was out. When I woke up, they’d gone. My babies.” Lauren hid her face in her hands.

The babies were gone. Harper felt as if a void had opened up within her chest, that too much air was trapped in her lungs and she couldn’t push it out. They had to be found. The alternative was unthinkable.

Light-headed, Harper stood up and went outside to find Atkinson. Once they were out of earshot, she said, “Did you check the parents’ names against the records?”