It was clearly Beatrice.

‘Poor kid,’ Hoskins muttered.

‘At the chief constable’s request, these two investigations are now being unified, as Operation Hawkeye,’ Gillard said. ‘I will remain senior investigating officer, DI Perry will be in charge of any further flood recovery developments, working with DI Mulholland. Other reporting lines will remain unchanged.’ He turned to a whiteboard on which the new developments had been scribbled up.

‘News management is vital. Christine McCafferty and her team will confine themselves to the bare bones, which is that the search has been scaled down following the discovery of a body which is believed to be that of the missing German music student. That is embargoed until six o’clock tonight, so no mention of it to any of your sources until the family has been informed. We will then be asking for information about anyone who saw her in the vicinity of Lacey Dutton in the last week.’

Gillard handed over to Claire Mulholland, who detailed the public response to the TV reports showing footage of the woman on the train. ‘It’s been a nightmare to be honest,’ she said. ‘Almost all of the respondents have simply guessed about a physical resemblance to someone they vaguely know. Local police forces all over the country have then been trying to establish the current and previous whereabouts of those identified people. It’s a slow task.’

There then followed reports from other team leaders, including Rob Townsend on computers, as well as the CCTV and ANPR searches which had been broadened.

Macintosh had a hand up. ‘Yes, Rainy?’

‘Are we not going public about the wee blonde girl in the yellow Allegro?’

‘At this stage, no. Once we have the results of the autopsy, and can get our heads around the bizarre results of the DNA test, we might be able to make further progress.’ He pointed at the whiteboard. ‘First, what we all have to get our heads around is this: two women, one a twenty-five-year-old German music student missing for five days, and the other a fifteen-year-old missing thirty-seven years, seemingly turn up in the same vehicle, in the same flood, at the same time. From the state of the car we know they didn’t drive there – the flood simply lifted the vehicle off the caravan site where it had stood unused for several years and carried it away towards the Lacey Dutton bridge.’

Rob Townsend had his own suggestion. ‘Maybe the same person killed them both, and stuffed them into that car.’

Gillard nodded. ‘It’s the obvious answer. The trouble is, assuming the second body genuinely is that of Jane Morris, that indicates the first of the crimes was committed as long ago as 1982.’

‘Some murdering pensioner, then?’ came a voice from the back.

‘But however old he is, he has a young female confederate who is happy to help in misdirection.’

That quietened the room completely.

‘What’s next?’ Perry asked.

‘We’re going to hope that Beatrice’s body has retained some forensic clues to where she’s been for the last week. Dr Nina Summers will be doing the autopsy.’ He looked at his watch. It was just after five. ‘My next job is to go to the hotel in Guildford where Beatrice’s parents are staying and break the news.’