Every airport, ferry terminal and other kind of border crossing was alerted to the possibility that Best might be trying to leave the country with Maggie Cooper and a toddler, either male or female, one or more of them with significant injuries.

They were also alerted to the fact it might only be Best and Maggie.

Or Best alone. In that case, they were looking for a man in his sixties, travelling alone.

And there were plenty of them. She pictured him on the Eurostar to Paris, settling into his seat with a cup of coffee and a newspaper, one more businessman in a suit making his way to a meeting.

Leaving Maggie Cooper in an unmarked grave, her child beside her.

No. He had dumped the car and left in another vehicle. He had a destination in mind and it wasn’t abroad. But they had no idea where it was. They had found no records of any property he might have had. Of course, it could be in another name, a fake identity, and finding that could take a long time. Time they did not have.

The truth was, Best could be anywhere.

She banged her desk in frustration. DS Chan looked at her.

‘I know,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe we missed him. We were so close.’

‘It’s more than that,’ Wynne said. ‘It’s the whole thing. I was involved in this at the beginning, and I went to Best’s house. He was known to be interested in school girls, taking photos from his window, that kind of thing. We searched his house – without a warrant, I bullied him into it – and we missed her. I went in the garage. His car was there, parked over the fucking trapdoor.’

‘You couldn’t have known,’ Chan said. ‘He must have excavated that room himself.’ He shook his head. ‘He must have been planning this for years, getting ready for the right opportunity.’

‘I should have known,’ Wynne said. ‘If I’d only taken more time.’

‘No,’ Chan said. ‘There was no link to Best. It’s not your fault.’

‘It feels like it is. And now we – I – have missed him again. I’m starting to think it’s not meant to be.’ She picked up her phone. ‘Time to call the Coopers. Give them the bad news.’

Martin

The phone rang as they were pulling into the house. Martin put it on speakerphone.

‘DI Wynne,’ he said. ‘Is there any news?’

‘I’m afraid not.’ She paused. ‘We did find Best’s car. It was on the Sparkedge industrial estate. He’d abandoned it.’

Sandra leaned forward. ‘Was there any sign of Maggie?’

‘No. We had a lot of officers on the scene and they did a thorough search of the premises and the surroundings. There was nothing. We think Best left his car there and switched to some alternative means of transport.’

‘He had a second car?’ Martin said.