‘We’re fairly certain. Her boyfriend, Alex Calderwood, reported her missing at around ten last night. Because her exercise gear was missing from the wardrobe and the wash-basket, the officers attending accompanied him along the running route she normally took.’ Nehwal slid from the desk and crossed the office to a street-map of Crowley on the wall. She pointed to a specific section of the blue ribbon that marked the canal. ‘They found her Fitbit here. It was damaged, it had literally snapped off her wrist, so there’d obviously been a struggle. Before you ask, the Fitbit is already down at the lab, priority request.’

‘She went missing on Saturday, and her boyfriend only reported it late on Sunday night?’ Lucy said.

‘Well spotted,’ Nehwal replied. ‘However, he was in Wales all weekend, participating in a charity decathlon. We’ve already checked that out, and it’s kosher. He claims that he’d had no contact from Lorna from Saturday evening onwards. He didn’t think that particularly strange until he got home late yesterday, found that she wasn’t there, rang around and learned from her friend Stella that she hadn’t turned up for a Saturday-night sleepover with the girls that she’d been planning.’

‘So why didn’t the girls report it?’ Lucy asked. ‘On Saturday, I mean?’

‘Sounds like it was only half an arrangement,’ Beardmore said. ‘Lorna had told them she might go around after her evening run, but not to expect her because she could be too tired. So they didn’t think it strange when she failed to show.’

‘She could have gone for a run on the Sunday and been attacked then,’ Lucy said.

‘She doesn’t run on Sundays, apparently. It’s her only day off.’

‘Okay … so she’s been gone one day and two nights.’ Lucy pondered. ‘Well, if she had her mobile with her, we can track her that way.’

‘Apparently, she never takes her mobile when she goes running,’ Nehwal replied. ‘Because if she gets a work call, she’d have to deal with it, and that would disrupt her exercise regime.’

‘More relevant,’ Beardmore put in, ‘a row of derelict garages backs onto the canal towpath at the point where the Fitbit was found. When the scene was examined earlier this morning, the rotted wooden panelling at the back of one of them had been smashed through.’

‘Smashed through from the inside?’ Lucy said.

He nodded.

‘And are we sure that happened on Saturday night, and not some time in the past?’

‘It looks recent,’ Nehwal said. ‘More importantly, the garage itself had a door at the front, which could be opened and closed, but had no lock on it. We’re thinking that would have been a good place to conceal a vehicle.’

Lucy stood up and moved to the map. Up close, she could see that someone had already marked the point of attack on the canalside with red biro.