‘A raid?’ Nick said, shocked, but happy. A blitz attack on the scrapyard would give the kidnappers no time to… hurt Josie or Anna. Miller affirmed as the DS slipped the car in behind a van. But that was all she gave him apart from an order to stay in the vehicle. She and Bennet got out to meet an approaching man clad in not much less than full riot gear. Nick buzzed with energy and impatience, knowing Josie could be just a few hundred metres away, but he stayed seated. They could easily have refused to bring him and he didn’t want to be sent away now. Not that he would have gone.

Miller was back a couple of minutes later, with some rules.

‘Okay, I’m not the boss here today. We’ve enlisted another police force, but it’s their old show, and we can’t be ungrateful. They’ll secure the site before we go in. They’ll let you in afterwards, my friend, but only if you stay by my side. They’ll strike quickly to preserve evidence, then call us in.’

‘Josie?’

‘They know about Josie. But we still have to wait. And they can’t go in just yet, I’m afraid.’

He’d remained calm and patient on the way down, partly out of fear that rushing might mean finding Josie dead all the sooner. Now, though, with the scrapyard within reach, with Josie minutes from being in her father’s embrace, Nick felt all his pulsating impatience and rage bubbling up. He could have sat still more easily on burning coals. So:

‘Why?’ he hissed. ‘We’re right here.’

‘Apologies. But please be calm. We have to wait because there’s another site.’

‘What?’

‘The entire Watson-Bruce clan, they’ve been involved in the scrap trade for ever. And petty crime. The chap who opened this place, like decades ago, one of his kids runs it now. Robert Watson-Bruce. A daughter called Rhona runs another scrapyard, which is way up north. I only just learned this, sorry. That other scrapyard is in Sunderland.’

Sunderland. A solid connection there, which decreased the chances that Watson-Bruce Salvage was a red herring; but Nick could only focus on the fear that—

‘Josie might be up there, is that what you’re saying? A hundred miles away?’

‘We don’t know. I’m sorry. Northumbria Police have a team tasked with storming that place. Both teams are to go together, and we’re having to wait for things to be ready up that end. We really should be grateful, my friend, because this has all moved very quickly.’