‘Call me as soon as you get this, Mrs Mason. It’s very important I speak to you.’ He hung up the phone as Gabriella was ending her own call. ‘Did you get Tran?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, she was with the search controller when I called, Constable Darren Cahil.’

‘Wait, why do I know that surname?’ said Con.

‘His sister was Rose Cahil. Taken during the 1985 abductions.’

Con rubbed at the corner of his eye. ‘Coincidence?’

‘He would have been ten years old,’ said Gabriella pointedly. She clapped her hands. ‘But I love this case, Con. All these little connections, and now it turns out the girls abducted themselves? What a twist. Thanks for not getting us kicked off the investigation just yet.’

Con felt his stomach drop.

‘Follow me, I need to tell you something,’ he said heavily.

Her face lit up. ‘Another plot twist?’

‘You’re not gonna like this one.’ He walked back inside, Gabriella in tow, and found a spare room. ‘In here,’ he said.

‘Oh, detective, you scandalous man,’ said Gabriella, flicking her curls back and putting a hand on her hip. ‘Can’t you wait until we’re off the clock?’

Con grimaced. ‘Gabriella.’

She caught his mood. ‘Why are you using my full name? What’s happened?’

‘Yesterday, when you spoke on Madison’s live stream —’

‘You mean when I correctly predicted she was hiding something?’

‘Yes, well, Commander Normandy spoke to me and . . . I think it’s an overreaction – no, it is an overreaction – but she said that . . .’ He swallowed. ‘What you did, on the live stream, has made the department look bad, has turned a lot of people against us . . . has brought her, the commander, into question, and . . .’ He could barely bring himself to say it. ‘You’re off the case.’

Gabriella blinked. ‘Pardonne-moi?’

‘Effective as of yesterday. And Agatha is on her way here, so I can’t even hide it.’ His voice turned into a pleading whine at the end. ‘I’m sorry, Gab, I have —’

She drew herself up. ‘You’re taking me off the case?’

‘No, I’m not. The commander is. You’ll have to go past the station and sign your gun in until you’re reassigned. Go home, Gabriella.’

‘Did you fight for me?’ she demanded. ‘Did you fight for the girls?’

‘Of course I did,’ he said, stung.

‘Not very hard, obviously,’ she said waspishly. ‘I wonder if she’d be willing to keep you on if she knew what you’d been up to? The locks you picked last night, for example. Without a warrant! Oh, look at me, so noble and successful, Mr Post-Traumatic Stress But I Still Get to Keep My Job Because Everyone Ignores What a Liability I Am.’

‘Hey,’ said Con, face red, voice rising to match hers. ‘It’s not my fault you called out a teenage girl on her own live stream. What the hell made you think that was a good idea?’