And then there was Attal himself. Bish welcomed the clumsy texts he received from the French copper, although they demanded intense analysis through Google translations. Attal may have been officially off the investigation, but the bombing was within his jurisdiction and his daughter had been at the campsite. Bish knew that nothing would stop Attal continuing his own inquiries, especially since the driver of her bus was a suspect. For Attal, this was personal. He had returned to the campsite often, suspecting that an employee there knew something. Someone had to have given details about which security cameras to avoid when planting the bomb. Attal had revealed to Bish that the camera overlooking the bus parking bays had been smashed. On the day of the bombing, Attal’s people had backed up footage from the other three cameras still operating, one outside the recreation hall, one outside the office, one overlooking the pool. The footage yielded very little, but did confirm the presence of a security vehicle. When Attal spoke to the owner of the security company, he was told that all their vehicles were accounted for. But between the evening before the bombing and the morning after, there was a discrepancy of eighty kilometres on the odometer of one of the vehicles and very little petrol in the tank. Greta Jager hadn’t imagined what she saw.

Photographies, Attal texted more than once. The answer to who was responsible possibly lay in the photographs taken by the kids.

The lack of progress in the official investigation meant that Violette and Eddie remained in danger of the ignorance that had swept across London and beyond. Social media was abuzz with sightings of them in Richmond, Pimlico, Edgware Road, Manchester and Swansea, all on the same day. According to Elliot, the only two that could be confirmed were Richmond the day before, when Violette and Eddie were caught on CCTV on the foot ferry near Orleans Road, and Edgeware Road Tube station later in the afternoon.

Bish had spent the previous night studying a map of those areas and their surroundings. London Central Mosque? Had someone in the Muslim community made contact with Violette? Promised her protection? Or were Violette and Eddie fearless enough to go sightseeing at Madame Tussauds?

‘They split up,’ Elliot told him early Monday morning while Bish drove them around Edgeware Road for what Elliot called a clue spark. ‘She knows they’re looking for a girl of seventeen and a boy of thirteen, so on the Tube they separate so as not to draw attention, and they travel during peak hour so they can get lost in the crowd. They look like the least nervous kids in the country. No backpacks, which means they have some kind of home base. A different football beanie each day for him. Hats and wigs for her. Yesterday morning she looked like Eliza Doolittle, later in the day she’s a rock chick.’

For Bish the area brought back memories of working at Paddington Green police station. ‘What’s Grazier’s latest theory about the bombing?’ he asked as he pulled up at the Tube to drop Elliot off.