‘Her father gave that no quarter. He was adamant she had come to harm. Said she rang him every day without fail and wouldn’t dream of just going off the radar. Apparently, when she was younger, she’d suffered from depression. After that, she made it her job to check in regularly, so her folks wouldn’t worry. The father was right to be concerned, of course. She was last seen walking out of a small industrial estate on the outskirts of the town after leaving work. She was off the next day and told her colleagues she planned to go clothes shopping. There was nothing out of the ordinary.’

‘Boyfriend’s name?

‘Eric Weber, a German. He moved back there at the end of 2009. We’re checking to see if he has returned to Ireland since.

‘Brian and Bridget?’ Tom called the remaining detectives’ names.

Brian stood up, forehead furrowed in concern.

‘We made one trip – to Eimear Johnson’s family in Kerry. There are worrying similarities in how people reacted to her disappearance. Eimear was twenty and a single mother. She lived with her folks outside Steppingtown in south Kerry – more of a village than a town. Last seen going home after a night out, walking alone. Her case was investigated thoroughly, we checked up on that. It was mentioned to us a couple of times, however, that Eimear had a reputation. People assumed she’d done a runner. We were told nobody knew who the child’s father was, that sort of thing. Her parents are devastated. They were adamant she wouldn’t have left the baby willingly. Said she doted on her. They did say that she was young and liked her nights out but her mother said Eimear never neglected her daughter. Even after a few drinks, she’d be up the next morning getting her breakfast and so on.’

Brian shrugged, to indicate that was all he had.

‘Okay,’ Tom said.

He walked over to the boards and picked up a marker.

Underneath each victim he began to fill in the corresponding facts, speaking as he wrote.

‘There are similarities between all the victims. For the purposes of this room only, I’m including Fiona Holland in our analysis. Each girl was making her way home alone from somewhere when she went missing. They’re all in a tight-ish age range, nineteen to thirty-three.’

The inspector stood back and looked at the pictures again.

‘Their features are different,’ he continued. ‘But they all have small frames, going by these photos and their files. Could that mean a woman did take them? I know Linda said probably not, but let’s not rule it out.’

He wrote ‘female abductor’ with a large question mark beside it.