Intrusions have been traced. They have recordings and are reverse-engineering. If intruders identified, criminal charges could be forthcoming. Pls advise.

Who are ‘They’? Would Elstree be the person asking for advice on criminal charges? But he’s an intellectual property solicitor, not a criminal lawyer.

I check the parking garage for the hog but there’s no sign of it, so I head on up to Elstree’s flat. I haven’t bothered wearing a mask or gloves. It’s still daylight. I’m going to be on video, nothing I can do about that, but if I come and go without creating a disturbance then there’s no reason for Elstree to check his video. Unless he’s instructed the flat to ping him when someone comes in, in which case I’m screwed. Also, if anyone notices the office keys are missing, Elstree can put two and two together and I’m screwed. But it’s a long way from his office across the Thames to Convoys Wharf – he can’t be here instantly.

All I have to do is get in, rescue O and get out.

‘O?’ I call. ‘Are you here? O, it’s me, Charlie. Make a sound if you’re here.’

There is no sound. I quickly search the flat in the eerie silence, but there’s no body, either. I feel deflated. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. If he has her, she’s in a warehouse somewhere or an abandoned Tube station or a boat. I just hoped, that’s all. I was sure if I came here, to the source, took the battle to Elstree instead of letting him come to me the way he has been doing all along, that I could get ahead of him.

Just being here reminds me how far behind I am. I’m standing in yet another luxury flat feeling like a Dickens street urchin. The place belongs in a Rolex ad. It’s open-plan with fantastic views over the Thames, everything white and spacious and frighteningly clean. Each piece of furniture is perfectly squared off and there isn’t a particle of dust.

He has a terrace, and that’s where I find the pigeons. I’m amazed that he’s allowed to keep them, considering the opinion most Londoners have of pigeons – but there they are, settled in their coop as the sun goes down. Their housing is modelled after a Swiss chalet – one small, twee detail in an otherwise too-cool-for-school decor.