He walked around to the other side of her bed and saw that she was awake. ‘Manoshi, who gave you these flowers?’ he asked.

She looked at them vacantly and managed a shrug. ‘While I was sleeping.’

Fionn Sykes was on his new iPhone when Bish poked his head round the door. And there were the flowers. When he casually asked about them, the boy mumbled. ‘One of the nurses, I think.’

Bish knew he was lying.

‘Fionn, have Violette and Eddie come to visit?’

‘Violette Zidane? Here?’ Fionn tried to sound shocked but there would be no BAFTA for him.

‘What did she say, Fionn? Where is she heading?’

Fionn closed his eyes. ‘Can you tell the nurse I’m in pain?’

Whether he was lying or not, Bish left him and went for the nurse.

‘Are you sitting down?’ Bish asked Grazier on his mobile. He was standing outside the cafeteria, watching through the glass doors as Saffron and the other two women drank tea. Katherine and Sadia were talking with an animation he could only attribute to Saffron, given their flat moods earlier.

‘Just spit it out, Ortley.’

‘Violette and Eddie have managed to cross the Channel.’

Silence, and then: ‘All right, I’m sitting down now. How?’

How indeed. Channel security had been heightened since the bombing. ‘Have no idea, but I’m almost sure they’ve done the rounds at Buckland Hospital.’

‘Jesus.’

‘Do you want me to get hospital security to check their CCTV?’ Bish asked.

‘No, I’ll get Elliot onto it,’ Grazier muttered. ‘The French aren’t going to be happy if they let those kids slip through their fingers. They’re not having much luck with suspects either.’

‘Did you find out anything about the driver of the French bus?’

‘Some of our people are talking with the CNI in Spain, and one or two of their kids claim they saw the driver of the French bus arguing with the driver of the English bus.’

‘Could that make Serge Sagur the target?’

‘Theories?’

‘Well, they both drove a big enough vehicle, so what if they had a people-smuggling business on the side?’

‘They’d be risking a 2000-pound fine per person for anyone found in their cars or trucks,’ Grazier said.

‘What do the French have to say about any other suspects?’ Bish asked.

‘They’re too offended about the kids being transferred to be taking our calls. Pity we don’t have Attal anymore.’

Bish was tempted to point out that he, not Elliot or Grazier, did have Attal. Attal was his. ‘Tell me about that phone call between Violette and her grandparents,’ he said instead. ‘What is it that the Home Secretary doesn’t want the public to know?’

‘It’s nothing.’

‘Listen, if you want me out there looking for Violette, talking to Ian Parker and the other parents, then I need to know what she’s been saying to people.’ What Bish really wanted to know was whether Violette had made mention of Bee.

Grazier’s sigh seemed never-ending. ‘The day after the bombing, Violette rang her grandparents because she knew they had been contacted. Nasrene LeBrac told her they were getting on the first plane to Paris. Violette informed her that if they left her pony and dog for “the dickhead next door” to look after, she’d never forgive them.’