She glanced around the room at her colleagues, all beavering away at various tasks. The guard across from her was on the phone again to the liaison officer in Scotland Yard. They were still trying to establish if any suspected or known killers in Britain might have fled to Ireland in the last decade and slipped through the police communications net.

The officer behind Laura was on the phone to Natasha McCarthy’s unit, trying to get an expanded list of registered sex offenders – historical cases that might not have been included in the current files.

The volume of information they were wading through was incredible, but it was getting them nowhere.

Laura closed her eyes and an image flashed before them.

There had been something on her screen that stood out.

She looked back to where her mouse arrow had paused on Fergus’ name, trying to see what it was she’d spotted.

There. It was probably nothing, she thought, scanning the details. But then, they didn’t have much to go on.

She looked up to say it to Michael, but he was gone.

‘Did anybody see where DS Geoghegan went?’ she called out.

‘He said he was getting some air,’ the officer behind her said, hand covering the phone receiver.

Laura jogged down the stairs and through reception. Outside, she cast her eyes left and right to see if she could spot Michael. When she couldn’t, she tried his mobile.

‘Where are you?’ she asked.

‘Shit, has something happened?’

He sounded worried.

‘No, nothing like that. I just want to go check something out.’

‘Thank God for that. Sorry, I should have said. Anne needed to pop out for an appointment and the babysitter cancelled. I’ve nipped home. Can it wait a half hour and I’ll leave Matthew off in my mother’s?’

‘Don’t do that,’ Laura said. ‘You’re fine. It’s probably nothing. I’ll catch you later.’

She hung up. Michael lived in nearby Chapelizod, on the other side of the Park. He probably thought he could be over and back before anybody even noticed he was missing, given how busy they all were. Well, she wasn’t going to dob him in for skiving. If Ray had turned up offering her a late lunch, she’d have been out the door in seconds.

She’d follow up the query on her own. Her other colleagues were busy and Laura didn’t want to drag one of them away on what she was pretty certain would end up being another wild goose-chase. She just needed to finish the day doing something concrete. She’d spent most of it thinking about Ray, entirely distracted.

Laura had driven a good distance when the man himself rang. She hit the answer button on the hands-free set.

‘Hey, where are you?’ he asked.

‘Driving. Do you need me?’