But the kids lost interest and walked off, just as Sasha’s attention was grabbed by a figure in a hoodie approaching along the seafront. Karin grabbed her arm.

‘It’s him,’ she whispered. ‘He took Lucas!’

Sasha felt a flutter of apprehension. ‘Are you sure?’

‘He’s dressed in the same clothes, it’s the same man.’

The figure stopped further along the pavement, his face lost in the dark of the hood, as Sasha tried to get Lydia’s attention.

‘Is that Matt?’

Lydia’s face lit up, and she called, ‘Matt, Matt!’

Seeing that Lydia wasn’t alone, the man hesitated, and turned back the way he had come.

‘He hasn’t seen us!’ cried Lydia.

‘Oh, he’s seen us alright,’ said Sasha, shoving her bag into Karin’s hands. ‘Call my office, Detective Sergeant de Vaz, he’s in my recents!’

Then she began to trot towards the figure, meaning to follow him. The crowds thickening around her, she weaved in and out of the families walking along the pavement. The hooded figure walked quickly into the road, crossing towards the arcades and gift shops, sliding between the crawling traffic, and Sasha kept pace, until the man began to run – and disappeared into an arcade.

Following him in, it took her a moment to adjust to the cacophony of noise and light as she made her way along a narrow corridor of machines; the slots and games, dozens of them, flashing and whirling and whooping at full volume. Every fruit machine and video game hurled out deafening music and sound effects – crashes and gunfire and explosions and bleeping melodies and the electronic clatter of cascading coins – so loud that the pop song playing full blast on the speaker system was lost in the discordant din.

There were kids running about, and parents feeding money into the slots, as Sasha scanned along the aisles, to her left, to her right, examining all the people, moving down one row of machines and up another, turning full circle, worried that she’d lost him.

She headed towards the back of the arcade where there was often a rear exit that led directly to the car park behind the parade. A kid pointed a yellow rifle at a screen and a horde of zombies exploded with sickening screams. Game over! A racing car roared around a virtual racetrack and flew off the road, exploding into a million pieces. Game over! A jangling bank of fruit machines seemed to shimmer and shake as lights raced up and down their metal casings. Win! Win! Win!

She could barely hear herself think as she tried to find the guy. She went down one aisle – it was a dead end – and doubled back, and the next aisle was also empty. The tannoy blared but the voice was distorted. Pressing deeper into the room, Sasha raced down another aisle, the only one left – and hit another dead end. She was about to turn—