Kesey averted her eyes to the wall. She stalled initially and then rushed her words. ‘I… eh… I may not be able to go.’

Janet jerked her head back. ‘What? Did I hear you right? We’ve been looking forward to it for months. And so has Edward. It’s going to be his first proper trip away from home, our first foreign holiday as a family.’

Kesey sipped her tea, grimacing slightly when it burned her tongue. ‘I’m so very sorry, Jan. It’s this new case I’m dealing with. The missing girl I told you about. She’s only a little bit older than Ed. I’m the divisional DI now. It’s my responsibility to find her. It’s not something I can avoid, however much I want to. I’ve got to see it through.’

‘You’ve got three weeks. Surely you’ll have found her before then.’

‘It’s eighteen days, Janet. We’re supposed to be going away in eighteen days. I checked the calendar.’

Janet frowned hard. ‘Okay, so it’s eighteen days. Isn’t that long enough? You’ve got an entire police force at your disposal. How hard can it be?’

‘We’ve got nothing, Jan. No suspects, or at least none that look even remotely likely. The girl’s mother did suggest one name. He looked like a possibility. But Ray spoke to him, and nothing came of it. We’re starting at the beginning again.’

‘There must be other things you can do.’

‘House-to-house hasn’t come up with anything. It’s the same story with the search officers. And the forensic evidence is next to useless. I had the results rushed through. We’ve got a few interesting fingerprints on and around the kitchen window where we believe the perpetrator entered the property, but they’re not on record. They can help rule a suspect in or out when we’ve actually got one, but as of now they don’t help us at all.’

Janet rose to her feet, her mug in one hand. She reached for a packet of custard cream biscuits with the other. ‘Have you finished?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I would have thought it was obvious. You’re a wife and mother as well as a police officer. Why do you always have to put your work first? Don’t we matter to you?’

Kesey reached out to touch Janet’s arm, but she withdrew her hand quickly when Janet pulled away. ‘Oh, come on, Jan, be fair. We’re talking about a young child’s life. A missing five-year-old girl abducted from her home in the middle of the night by someone who’ll likely do her harm. You know the score. It’s my case, my responsibility. If I don’t find her, then who?’

Janet took a bite of biscuit, chewed and swallowed. ‘Surely there must be someone else who could do it. You’re not the only detective in the force.’

Kesey sighed. ‘Maybe I can rearrange the holiday. You know, move it on a few weeks. That wouldn’t be too much of a problem, would it? We’d still be going. Just at a different time.’