She left the clinic, called in at a small market café, and grabbed a large coffee and a bacon sandwich to go. The sleep, albeit short and sweet, had been great; now she needed sustenance to keep her grey cells ticking over. She was going to need both energy and a brain if she were to find Kerry Anderson.

As she waited for her sandwich, she rang the hospital to check on Joseph. The nurse on the ward was cagey, but said he was comfortable, whatever that meant, and they were cautiously optimistic that he would not need more surgery. The next twenty-four hours were the testing time, apparently. Nikki sent her best wishes, hung up, took her breakfast and left.

Superintendent Bainbridge had everything organized and ready when she arrived, and Nikki was pleased to see that she had Yvonne, Niall and Cat with her.

Doyle’s direction’s had been hazy but, as she said, she had never been there, she had just listened to what Stephen had told her.

The first wave, four small search teams, were waiting for instructions, and a fleet of emergency back-up vehicles were being sent to a rendezvous point on the main road above the marsh coastline.

Nikki took a look at the maps and the details of the areas to be searched, then said, ‘I’ll take this one, sir. It’s old home ground.’

Ten minutes later, with every one of their senses switched to high alert, they moved out.

‘We’ve already been over this part of the marsh.’

‘Then we go over it again! Give me the map.’ Nikki swung around in the speeding police car and grabbed the map from Niall. ‘I used to live near here, and I was only a mile from here on the sea-bank yesterday morning.’ She drew in a deep breath. ‘God! I could have been metres away from her and never realized.’

‘There’s only three possible spots on the search record, ma’am. The old watch tower, a decrepit shack that birdwatchers occasionally use, and a derelict cottage.’

‘What have they said about them?’

‘Watch tower and one outbuilding totally clear, nowhere on site suitable to hide or conceal.’ Niall turned over the sheet of paper and continued. ‘Bird hide, a single room, derelict, totally clear.’ He ran his finger down the page. ‘And the place called Coggin’s Cottage. Demolished. No longer standing.’

‘Nothing else about it?’ asked Nikki sharply.

Niall shook his head. ‘Just a pile of bricks apparently.’

Nikki felt a rush of hope course through her. ‘Then that’s where we go! Yvonne! In about 500 yards, take a right at the fork in the road. Go careful, it’s a single track and the reeds are high on both sides. Head towards the estuary.’

‘But why?’ asked Cat, looking anxiously out of the window as Yvonne capably swung the vehicle around a blind corner.