‘I’m ashamed to admit that my youngest daughter follows these two on Instagram. So I spent last night looking through their private stories. The post from the park was the last one from Sasha Granger’s Snapchat. You can see they’re in school uniform. Officers are at the school now, taking statements from friends and classmates, and their photos have been released by the press office,’ Kate said.

‘It’s vital we find them, and quick,’ Kelly said. She pressed keys on her keypad and the Polaroids from Laurie Fell popped up on the whiteboard behind her.

‘These are Polaroids seized at Laurie Fell, showing numerous young girls in various states of “dress up”, shall we call it, taken at the main house. They’ve yet to be verified and dated. As you can see, they are heavy on the uniform of this particular school, and Nellie Lowther retired as head of English there two years ago, because she inherited her father’s estate. I want to know her connection to the school now, and if she has a discipline record for inappropriate behaviour towards minors. Somebody introduced these two girls to two considerably older rich men looking for underage girls.’

She studied the two schoolgirls on the whiteboard. Their faces were round and young; they had the glow of youth that can’t be bought with wealth and she guessed that was why older, rich men liked them. Their skin was smooth and plump, and their make-up was jarring as it sat unnecessarily on such pristine faces. Though their smiles were wiser than their years, they were still kids, and vulnerable. They looked as though they had all the swagger to insist they made their own choices, but that wasn’t the point. At fifteen, they couldn’t.

Chapter 44