‘My youngest had the same thing years back. It’s not nice.

There’s nothing worse than watching your kids suffer.’

Kesey dropped a sweetener into her coffee and stirred vigorously, spilling a few drops of the hot liquid onto the table. ‘Tell me about it. It always makes me feel so helpless. If I could have had it instead of him, I’d have done it in a heartbeat.’

‘He’s going to be fine. A few days of the right treatment and he’ll be as good as new again.’

Kesey sipped her coffee, relaxing slightly as the rising vapour warmed her face. She asked her questions more in hope than expectation. ‘Is there any news after the press conference? Anything significant I need to know about?’

Lewis grinned, happy to keep her waiting, taking pleasure in anticipation of what was to come. ‘Well, we had the usual nutters ringing in confessing to assassinating Kennedy, causing global warming, that sort of thing.’

Kesey shook her head slowly and deliberately. ‘Come on, Ray. Stop pissing me about. I can see it in your eyes. I know you’ve got something for me.’

‘We had two possible sightings of Lottie, one in Cardiff and one in Exeter in the West Country.’

Kesey took a small bite of the roll before returning it to her plate, losing her appetite. Maybe a bit of brown sauce would help. ‘Have you followed either of both leads up?’

‘Yeah, I’ve had a word with the South Wales and Devon and Cornwall forces. They’re going to check it out.’

‘Did you stress the urgency?’

Lewis scratched the back of his neck, disappointed she felt the need to ask. ‘Well, yeah, of course.’

‘Don’t get all defensive on me. It’s just my way. I was only asking.’

He gave her a knowing look.

‘Come on now, what else have you got for me? I know there’s more.’

Lewis cocked an eyebrow, tilting his balding head at a slight angle, running a hand through what was left of his hair. ‘You’re not going to like it.’

Kesey sighed, tiring of his drip-drip approach to sharing information. She knew exactly what he was up to. He’d done it before, building to a climax like a showman on a stage. ‘For fuck’s sake, Ray, tell me what you’ve got. I’m tired of waiting.’

‘We’ve got a witness. A witness who rang in claiming he saw someone leave Megan’s Picton Street address in the early hours of that morning. A person carrying what looked like a young child. A person who walked out of the gate leading from the back garden, down the path at the side of the house, and along the pavement towards Steele Avenue.’

‘Wow, that’s more than I was expecting. At what sort of time did the witness claim to see all this happening?’

‘It was about 4 a.m. Or at least, that’s what he claimed.’

Kesey chose to ignore the implied element of doubt in Lewis’s prior comment. ‘And it was definitely that same night? The night Lottie went missing?’