‘You may encounter some difficulty, considering the mob surrounding the station.’

‘Again?’

‘The citizens of Limestone Creek appear to be very civic minded. “Justice for Jack”, “Justice for Murphy”. Most of the crowd are the disgruntled would-be search volunteers who have been camping out beside the community hall, all at Madison’s direction. It’s amazing – a few hours ago, a mob wanted to kill Murphy. Now they want to save him. Believe me, the irony has been lost on no one.’

‘What should I do, ma’am? Where else I can take them?’ said Con.

‘Use your initiative, but don’t let it be the station.’ Her voice rose. ‘Calling out a sixteen-year-old girl online, on her own channel – what was Pakinga thinking?’

‘Gabriella has a plan, commander.’

‘Not anymore, Badenhorst. She’s off the case.’

‘I . . . no,’ said Con. He slowed down to pull over. ‘What? Agatha?’

‘Why are we stopping —’ began Murphy. Con hit in the arm to silence him.

‘We are making progress, ma’am. You can’t take her off the case.’

‘Any progress she can pass on to her successor – Melinda Tran. And yours, too, if you don’t start showing me something. Do you have any idea how much damage she caused? Now my judgement is being called into question. If I don’t take Gabriella off the case, they’ll keep digging, and before long someone will drag up your psych records, Con, and then I’ll have even more to defend. So I’ll give you one more strike, then you’re out and I’m getting someone else to run point.’

Con could barely believe it. It took him a moment to find a response. ‘With all due respect, commander, that could be fatal for the missing girls, not to mention a colossal waste of time.’

‘You and Gabriella are all over the internet. That’s a bad look for the department. I know you like to break rules when you’re under pressure, and I can’t take that risk. You know I’ve given you enough chances.’

‘So it’s all about optics?’ demanded Con, outraged. ‘Three girls are missing! One is dead!’

‘Grow up, Badenhorst. Everything is about optics,’ she snapped, then sighed. ‘Listen, you haven’t made any real progress, you have no leads, no significant evidence, and as you say: a girl is dead. You might not have to think about the funding and PR nightmare this will turn into in the long-term, but I do. Madison’s online presence only makes it more difficult.’ Her voice softened. ‘And if someone starts digging into your past, there’s going to be a lot of questions about why you weren’t discharged for your own benefit, never mind assigned to this case.’

‘Because I’m the best, Agatha. You know I am. It’s the right thing to do by the missing girls.’