‘Any luck yet?’ Radford asked on entering the room.

‘Not yet, but if the kidnappers only used the country roads as they did before, this won’t help. I’ve been looking back from about six this morning but there’s nothing yet.’

‘Try from 5am. Mrs Perry said Richard was already gone by six when she went downstairs.’ Alex watched as Graham pressed various keys and was impressed with the speed his sergeant worked. He didn’t have the slightest desire to learn all that technical stuff and was rather glad he wasn’t just starting out in the force as all new recruits needed a certain level of technical competence.

‘I’ll leave you to it then.’ Radford left his sergeant and returned to the incident room. A handful of officers were already busy on the case and he called for their attention to update them on the day’s developments.

A sigh rippled through the room when he broke the news that Stone appeared to have gone solo to meet the kidnappers. Alex understood their mood. His team were dedicated to their work but never more so than when a child was missing. It was still early in the day but many of them had been in for an hour or more, and that was after a late evening the previous day.

After the update, Radford searched out the sergeant who’d been to interview Stone’s girlfriend.

‘She’s a piece of work all right.’ DS Dee Samms rolled her eyes. ‘Long blonde hair, baby blue eyes and a figure to die for. Got herself a nice little apartment in Portishead, with no visible means of making a living. Very high maintenance too, I should think. But she confirmed what Stone told you about their relationship and she has a solid alibi herself for the day Danny went missing, I’ve checked it out.’

‘Thanks, Dee.’

Radford rubbed his gritty eyes and went to grab a coffee before moving around the room, speaking to each member of the team.

‘Anything interesting from the last press conference, Jim?’

‘Nothing so far – the usual time-wasters and a medium who claims the parents did it, but nothing solid, although I’ve still got a pile of numbers to ring back.’

Radford thanked the young DC and moved on again, only to be intercepted by a rather animated Graham Foster, charging through the swing doors.

‘Got him, boss! His car was picked up turning into Fairview Service Station at five fifty am. If only I’d gone back another ten minutes I’d have been on to him sooner.’

‘Don’t worry about it. We’ve got him now. Has he moved out of the service station?’

‘No, he must still be there. I’ve left Paul watching the cameras. Are we good to go?’