‘I recognise her,’ Nick said, shocked. ‘She came to the house a few days ago. Pizza girl. She wanted to know about my sleeping habits and family and stuff, to see if I could benefit from an organic lifestyle. Jesus Christ, I even told DS Bennet about her.’ He quickly explained his sarcastic answer to Bennet’s query about people Nick had come across in recent weeks. ‘She sounded so… genuine. But… all those questions… she wasn’t seeing if an organic lifestyle would suit me in order to sell a damn product. She was milking me for information, wasn’t she? And getting close to the house. Were they watching us all that time?’

‘Probably, my friend. They were very good. Some don’t know how criminally adept they are until they try it.’

If Nick had somehow known, when he opened the door to this girl who had tried to engage him in chat, that she was planning to steal Josie… He slapped the side of the van, which sent a gong-like sound rushing away.

‘All this, and for what? It had better be to avoid something catastrophic. I hope that bastard Eastman did this to prevent another Middle Eastern war.’

‘Nothing so respectable, I fear,’ Miller said. ‘Last week a newspaper exposed three affairs Eastman had over the last fifteen years. Each of those women was contacted and agreed to tell their story, probably for a fee. The three Witches of Eastman. Suppose there was a fourth Witch, as yet unknown? Someone who might sell her story soon.’

Nick said he didn’t understand.

‘None of those Witches lived in Greenford. Eastman told your Anna that the lady he was meeting lived near All Hallows Church in Greenford. That’s barely a few hundred metres from where those hikers were killed.’

Nick still didn’t understand.

‘Just my opinion, mind. Witch number four comes forward to say that Eastman planned to forgo an important function at Hammersmith Medicines Research to meet her. Not a great piece of detective work to find that date, 5th September 2011. Same time, nearby, two hikers are killed by an 05 plate blue Fiat Punto. Such as was owned by Eastman’s caseworker, a lady known for ferrying him around when he wants to remain inconspicuous.’

‘Someone would connect the dots. The police would find Anna, find out about the scrapped car, everything. And she would have no choice but to expose the disk to back up her version of the story. So this bastard kidnapped my daughter so there would be no proof he was even there when Anna killed those hikers. Why not try to get this woman to say nothing?’

‘Just my theory, like I said. No evidence. I’ve already set the wheels of his arrest turning, so perhaps we’ll know before long.’