‘But her face! Did you see her face?’ Will pulled away and tried to peer around him.

‘William! God knows what ordeal that child has been through. Now forget what you saw! She is safe now. Hold on to that.’

Will let his head fall forward. He felt someone put an arm around him. ‘Listen to what he says, Will,’ Charlotte Anders said. ‘She’s alive. We’ll take care of her.’ Then, after a quick word with Sam, she moved away.

Will had seen the look on Fenner’s face. Instructions from his training echoed in his mind: ‘Always look close to home for the murderer or the child molester, PC Stonebridge. The father or an uncle are the most likely candidates.’ Fenner must have had the same instructor.

‘Where are they taking her? I want to see her, I’ve got to!’

‘Calm down, lad. They’re taking her to the family suite where she will be looked after. You know the drill, William. You know what happens next. None of us can see her, not yet.’

He did know, but none of it made sense. Why had she looked at him like that? She should have run to him. What did it mean?

Someone called out from the darkness above. ‘Sir! Ma’am! There is something else. I think you should see this.’ Inspector Fenner and DCI Anders moved swiftly towards the door in the old mill wall.

‘No one else enters, got that?’ the inspector said as they disappeared inside. ‘Especially no civilians!’

Will stood with Sam. He felt strangely numb. The liaison officer had taken Philip with them to the hospital where Sophie would be treated. He would not be allowed to see her in person but would be on hand to provide the doctors with any information they needed about her. She would have a thorough medical examination and then, when she was ready, they would start the difficult process of determining what had happened. The Royal Canadian Air Force doctor was en-route from Waddington, where he had landed a short time before.

‘Seal this place up until the SOCOs get here!’ yelled DCI Anders. ‘Where the hell are they anyway?’

‘On their way from the Grove cottage, ma’am.’

Two more cars joined the melee. The scene-of-crime officers pushed through the blue-and-white tape, donning their white protective suits.

‘Kenwright! Take a couple of uniforms and bring in Grove.’

‘What’s the charge, ma’am?’

‘Distributing indecent images of children contrary to the Protection of Children’s Act 1978, and Contravention of the Obscene Publications Act will do for starters, and from the look of what we’ve just found, there’ll be a number of choice additions before long. Just get the bastard, will you?’

The detective constable and two uniformed officers ran to their car and sped away into the night.